


Fictober 2019 Ficlets

by angsty_nerd



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Adult content in #13, Adult content in #22, Adult content in #7, Angst, F/M, Gen, Liz cries a lot in #4, adult-ish content in #28, power addicted alien god Max in #22, power addicted alien god Max in #28
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2020-11-15 01:26:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 31
Words: 48,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20857943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angsty_nerd/pseuds/angsty_nerd
Summary: 1 Rosa & Liz2 Max/Liz3 Liz & Rosa & Arturo4 Max/Liz5 Max & Liz6 Liz & Rosa & Kyle & Michael & Isobel7 Max/Liz (adult)8 Max/Liz9 Liz & Rosa & Arturo (sequel to #3)10 Maria/Michael & Liz & Rosa11 Max/Liz12 Max/Liz13 Max/Liz (adult)14 Max/Liz15 Maria/Michael, Maria & Liz16 Liz & Rosa17 Liz & Maria18 Maria & Liz & Alex & Kyle19 Max/Liz20 Liz & Kyle, Maria & Rosa & Liz, Rosa & Max21 Max & Arturo22 Max/Liz (dark, adult)23 Max/Liz24 Rosa & Jim Valenti25 Maria & Liz26 Max/Liz27 Max/Liz28 Max/Liz (dark, adult, prequel to #22)29 Max/Liz30 Max & Michael & Isobel31 Isobel, Michael, Liz...Noah mentioned, Max mentioned





	1. Chapter 1

"It'll be fun, trust me!"

"Nooo, Rosa! What if Papi finds out? What if we get _ arrested_? What if we get _ murdered_!?!"

"_ Ay loco_!! None of that will happen! At least, none of it will happen as long as you promise to follow all of my rules. One night only. Please?"

It's a bad idea. Liz knew it was a bad idea. Rosa was the reason that she toed the line, did what she was told. One of them had to stay out of trouble, and it wasn't going to be Rosa Ortecho, so the responsibility fell to Liz.

Still, a night out would be fun…

"_Elizabeth_, I promise, Papi will not find out. We'll get ready with Maria at the Wild Pony. He'll never even see you. And once we hit the road it'll just be us girls…"

"Us girls and _ Alex_!" Liz interrupted with a laugh.

"Okay, us girls and Alex! And as long as you do _ everything _ I tell you to do, no one will ever suspect that we're underage. _ Trust me, _Liz!"

Liz bit her lip, as she wiggled in place. Rosa's energy was infectious and it was hard to not want to trust her big sister.

"FINE!" Liz exploded. "Okay fine! Let's do it!"

A few hours later, the four of them were on their way to the Fall Out Boy concert. Liz kept staring at the fake ID that Rosa had passed her. Sasha Jimenez didn't look much like Liz Ortecho. Her long dark hair fell in perfectly styled waves, while Liz generally wore her hair straight, mostly pulled up, at least in front, to keep it out of her face. Liz Ortecho never wore makeup, really. Sasha wore dark mascara and deep red lipstick. Elizabeth Ortecho would never wear such a low cut top, and a black leather jacket with matching boots certainly wasn't her style. But the part that felt the most awkward to Liz were the huge silver hoops in her ears. They kept getting caught in her hair, knocking the side of her face. How do women do this every single day?

But when she turned to look at her sister, Rosa was shining with pride at the sight of her. 

"See?" Rosa had said, hugging Liz in the shoulders as she admired her work before leaving Roswell. "Told ya I could make you look 21! _ Bonita_! You look hot, Liz!"

4 years later, on her 21st birthday, Liz thought of her sister as she carefully applied the lipstick and mascara that she had purchased earlier that day at the local mall. On the counter next to her was a big pair of silver hoops.

After all, Rosa had a vision of what Liz would look like at 21. The least she could do was live up to her dead sister's expectations.


	2. Chapter 2

"Liz, wake up!"

"Uh uh." Liz groaned in the negative, curling her body tighter against his warmth beside her, one hand sliding up his bare chest. "I like it here."

"Please?" He begged. "There's something I want to show you!"

Liz peeked one eye open, just a bit. He was entirely too awake, looking down at her with a serious look on his face that Liz just didn't particularly care for before dawn. But there was so much joy in his voice and having him back, finally, was so overwhelming after the months of loneliness and heartache that she knew her protests were a lost cause. She couldn't deny him anything right now.

"Fine," she sighed, rolling away from him and sitting up. She ran a hand through her straggly mess of hair, but it would take more than that to tame it. 

Max sat up, leaning across the space between them to kiss her softly on the lips. "You're a dream," he murmured to her. She flushed. How was it that he could do that? It was like he could read her mind, like he knew exactly when she was feeling down on herself and had exactly the right words to light her on fire.

"It still feels like a miracle that you're back." She admitted. "You were gone…" she swallowed, not wanting to say the word, but knowing she had to, "...dead. You were dead for so long. I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

He kissed her again, and leaned his forehead against hers, just sitting there in each other's space in silence for a few moments, soaking each other in. "I'm here." He finally said, before pulling away. "And we need to go! Throw on some clothes and walking shoes! Come on!"

A half hour later Max was leading her up a desert path in the dark. Liz held onto his hand tightly, worried that she might take a wrong step, slip and fall.

“Where are we going, Max? I can’t see a thing!”

“It’s a surprise!” He insisted. “Just follow me. I know the area.”

“You brought a flashlight when you took me to see the pods for the first time. And that was during the daytime. And you’ve been there a million times.”

“You didn’t trust me then.” Max replied. “I’ve been here a million times too. Stay close to me. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Liz tried not to feel nervous as she clung to Max’s hand, closely following in his footsteps as he led her up the steep, rocky path that wound through the boulders and sage bushes. She knew she was safe with him. She knew it in her heart and she knew it in her bones. But a piece of her heart was still trying to heal from the pain of losing him. And it was that piece that was a little bit afraid.

The path flattened when they reached the top. It was still dark, but Liz could tell that they were at the summit of a rock formation of some sort. She could see the barest trace of light on the distant horizon. Max led her to a boulder with a comfortable enough looking surface, and sat, gesturing for her to join him. She snuggled up beside him for warmth, one of his arms wrapped around her shoulders.

They sat there in silence for a long time, watching the light slowly grow brighter, the colors becoming more vivid, until the sun peeked out to say good morning to them. Now Liz could see the view below them, the desert stretched out before them, no cities or roads or people in sight. It was like she and Max were alone in the world. The two of them, the desert, and the sunrise.

When Max started to speak, it was so softly that Liz almost didn’t hear him at first.

“...though she had taken such strong possession of me, though my fancy and my hope were so set upon her, though her influence on my boyish life and character had been all-powerful, I did not, even that romantic morning, invest her with any attributes save those she possessed. The unqualified truth is, I loved her simply because I found her irresistible. Once for all; I knew to my sorrow, often and often, if not always, that I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. Once for all; I loved her nonetheless because I knew it, and it had no more influence in restraining me, than if I had devoutly believed her to be human perfection.”

“Max…” Liz murmured, her heart aching with all that she felt for him in that moment. She leaned her head on his shoulder, slid one hand up the back of his neck his hair threading through her fingers. She was silent for a few moments, letting his words wash over her, watching the sun grow into a half dome, before she finally asked, “What’s that from?”

“Dickens.” Max replied. “Great Expectations.”

“Of course it is.” Liz said with a laugh.

She sat up, turning to face him, taking his head in her hands and forcing him to look her in the eyes. 

“Max…you know you don’t have to change yourself for me, right? I’m in love with you. I love you. I’ve been in love with you, for a while now.”

“Liz…” Max’s voice broke on her name, and she could tell he was too choked up to say anything else. His eyes were shining, so she leaned in and kissed him before he could start crying. 

Neither of them noticed the sun break fully free of the horizon, its bright light pronouncing the beginning of the new day. 

They were too wrapped up in their own embrace.   
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

"Now? Now you listen to me?" Rosa cried her frustration evident as she faced off with her sister. 

"Well, look at where we are." Liz replied softly, with a calmness that made Rosa just want to scream even louder at her. Her sister gestured around them. It was dark in the park at the center of the town square, except for a dim light from the bulbs hanging from the gazebo. 

"You've made your feelings crystal clear. And I'd rather we do this together than you going off on your own. What if Wyatt Long and his gang were to see you? He's already tried to kill me _ and _ Papi. I don't even want to think of what he'd do if he saw you here."

Rosa looked longingly over Liz's shoulder at the lights of the Crashdown. It was the closest she had been to home yet, but the distance still felt insurmountable. 

"Everything is so different now." Rosa admitted to her sister, trying to fight the tears stinging her eyes. "It's like I blinked and suddenly you're like this adult person who has her life together. My birth father is dead. My creepy secret friend turned out to have been literally possessed for our entire relationship and is actually super nice to me now. Your boyfriend is, like, a miraculous healer who _brought me back from the dead_. I just want one thing to feel normal. Papi… home… nothing has changed there, right?"

She was still looking past Liz to her home and almost missed her sister taking a slow step forward, her hands shaking as she reached out to embrace Rosa. Rosa buried her face in her sister's shoulder, and for the first time in her life, she let her baby sister comfort her. 

When they separated, Liz pulled out her phone and looked at the time, and then glanced back to the Crashdown lights.

"It's almost 10." Liz informed her, "Papi will be closing up soon. Once Jose and Agnes take off, we can sneak in the back and no one will see you except for Papi."

"Really?" Rosa gasped. "Thank you, Liz."

"Be gentle with Papi, though. He doesn't know you're alive and he hasn't been in the best health lately. We don't want to give him a heart attack."

Rosa followed her sister to a park bench facing the restaurant, and they sat there together in the dark, watching and waiting for their time to come. Rosa leaned her head on Liz's shoulder, and Liz gently stroked her hair as they sat in silence. For a moment, even though there was a strangeness in their role reversal, Rosa just felt so happy in that moment with her big sister, waiting to go see their father.

"Tell me about something you did sometime in the past decade that made you think of me?" Rosa asked.

"Just one thing?" Liz chuckled. "You know I thought about you every single day, right? You were everywhere with me."

"So you should have plenty of stories to catch me up on. Tell me one now while we wait."

"Okay…" Liz was silent for a moment. Then, Rosa could hear the smile in her voice when she asked, "Remember the Fall Out Boy concert?"

"Of course!" Rosa laughed. "I was so proud of you that night! Alex didn't think you'd come, you know?"

"Well I showed him! But before we went, you dressed me up to make me look older, you know, for the fake ID."

"You were so uncomfortable…"

"I was." Liz confirmed. "But on my 21st birthday, I was getting dressed up to go out to my first night on the town, legally. It was 2012, and Imagine Dragons were playing that night at a club nearby."

"Who!?!" 

"_Dios mìo, _so much to get you caught up on. What, did Kyle only play Taylor Swift for you?"

"There was a lot of pop princesses." 

"I will have to fix that." Liz shook her head. "Anyway, that night I got dressed up in exactly the same style as you made me dress for the Fall Out Boy concert. An homage to my older sister, who still hasn't even turned 21. And I went to the concert and I danced my ass off, hooked up with a hot guy, and at the end of the night I felt so damn confident that I mirrored the look the next day...and the next. And, voila! Modern Liz Ortecho was born from the ashes of a fake ID and a Fall Out Boy concert, all thanks to you."

A distant tinkle caught their attention and they turned to see the lights shutting off on the Crashdown Cafe, as the last employees headed out for the night.

"Let's go." Liz announced, pulling Rosa to her feet.

They crossed the street and silently made their way to the back of the restaurant. Liz pulled a set of keys from her pocket, unlocking the door to let them both in. The cafe was dark, but the stairway lights were on. Liz led Rosa upstairs to the apartment they grew up in.

"Papi?" Liz called softly as she opened the front door, poking her head inside. Rosa stayed behind her, waiting nervously, as she heard his familiar voice greet her happily.

"I know, I'm sorry, Papi. Things have been really crazy. You wouldn't even believe me if I tried to explain. I've been staying at Max's house. But I'm here now. And I have a surprise for you. A really, really unexpected surprise. You may want to sit down for this."

Liz turned back to meet her eyes. "You ready?" Rosa nodded once, firmly, and then Liz pushed open the door and led Rosa inside.

"Hi Papi." 

His face went pale, and he quickly jumped to his feet.

"_Dios me protege_!”

"Please, don't be afraid. It's really me."

"No." He insisted. "Impossible. _ Mi hija _ is long dead."

"It's her, Papi," Liz confirmed. "It's Rosa."

Rosa reached a hand out to her father. He trembled, as he allowed her to grasp onto him. "Oh!" He cried out as the tears started pouring down his face. 

Rosa threw her arms around him, tightly hugging him, and he clung to her as he cried. Soon Liz slipped into the group hug, and the Ortecho family stood there, in their home, hugging and crying.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once they had calmed down from the initial emotional outburst, they settled down to talk. Rosa expected that Liz would take the lead, so she was surprised when Liz posed the first question to her.

"So how does home feel, Rosa?"

"Perfect." Rosa admitted, as she looked around the room. "It's just how I remember it."

"And Papi?" Liz pressed.

Rosa smiled as she looked at her father. "A little older, but still my Papi. Definitely feels the closest to the person I remember out of everyone I've seen."

"Everyone? Tell me what's going on, Rosa. How can you be here? Where have you been?" 

"Papi… everything you've believed has been both true...and a lie." Liz awkwardly told him. "I know that sounds crazy, but it's true, Rosa _ has _ been dead for 10 years. You have not been mourning in vain.

"But Rosa didn't die in a car crash. She wasn't driving and she didn't kill those girls. She was innocent and unfairly blamed for all of that. She was murdered." Liz paused and met Rosa's eyes momentarily. Rosa nodded for her to continue. 

"Papi, this is going to sound crazy but it is completely true. Rosa was murdered by an alien. A survivor of the 1947 crash who was obsessed with her."

"When I rejected him, he got angry and killed me." Rosa interjected quietly, shivering as she remembered his emotionless look in Isobel Evans' eyes.

Liz pushed on with the story before their father could react. "The aliens, they have these powers. They can do impossible things that we can't. The alien that killed Rosa just killed her with a touch, and then he somehow stole her body and put it into this alien stasis pod to keep Rosa for himself. And then he spent a decade living among us, murdering people, and screwing with people's minds. Until we caught him. With your help, actually, Papi."

"Me? What did I do?"

"At the gala last month, you told me that Noah volunteers at Ranchero Night. All of the murders occurred at Ranchero Night. That was the final clue that pointed us to Noah as Rosa's murderer."

"_Noah Bracken _ murdered Rosa?"

Both of the Ortecho sisters silently nodded.

"_Noah Bracken _ is an alien?"

"Noah Bracken was an alien." Liz confirmed. "But Noah is dead now too. Another alien, a good one, killed him to keep him from hurting anyone else. And then afterwards, he found Rosa's body in Noah's stasis pod, and he used his powers to bring her back to life."

"Why would he do that?" Arturo asked. "Was he just trying to fix Noah's wrongs?"

"No." Liz murmured, tears filling her eyes, and Rosa quickly realized that her sister was not yet ready to talk about Max's sacrifice and loss. Time for big (little) sister to bail Liz out.

"He did it for Liz." Rosa explained. "Because he's in love with her and he wanted her to have me back." Rosa heard a whimper escape from her sister's throat, and she took Liz's hand, holding it to comfort her. 

"And bringing me back from the dead killed him. Which is why Liz hasn't been around much lately. Between trying to help me get reacquainted with the world and trying to find a way to bring Max Evans back from the dead, she's been pretty overwhelmed."

"Oh _ mija_,” Arturo cried, opening his arms to her. Liz threw herself into Papi's arms and wept into his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, _ mija_. He was a good man. If he can return to you, I believe he will. Stay strong."

"I love you, Papi," Liz cried. Arturo looked up and met Rosa's eyes.

"What are you doing alone over there? I want both of my girls over here."

With a grin, Rosa jumped to her feet and leaped across to her father's other side beside her sister. Again, the Ortecho family hugged each other tightly, happy to be back together for the first time in a decade.


	4. Chapter 4

The world was like an avalanche of light, and colors, and noise. Isobel was clinging to him, crying his name over and over again. Cam stood a few feet away, and he thought he heard her call out, “Glad to have you back among the living, Evans.” Michael was nearby, he was saying something to somebody, but it was drowned out in the noise. Nearby Valenti kept repeating Isobel’s name over and over, “Isobel…. Isobel! I need to check him… Isobel! Let me make sure he’s ok!” Max was surrounded by the people he loves, but they seemed to all be talking at once, and the flood of noise was like a knife piercing his brain.

But where was Liz?

Valenti somehow convinced Michael to extract Isobel from him, and the noise at least lessened.

“How’re you feeling, Max?” He asked.

“It’s just...there’s so much of everything. It hurts.” Max tried to explain. His voice sounded gravely and weak. He squinted and saw Valenti looking concerned at him, and then he disappeared for a moment.

The noise faded. Max could hear footsteps, sensed his siblings walking away.

“Okay, everyone is leaving. Let’s just focus on you right now. Can I take your vitals?” Max nodded. 

Silently, Kyle went through the motions of checking his temperature, his blood pressure, heart rate. 

"Okay Evans, generally speaking, everything seems normal, but this situation is unprecedented. I want you to take it easy for a few days, okay? If you feel off at all, call me right away. And keep someone with you at all times, okay? Doctor's orders."

"Will do." Max agreed. "But, Kyle, what happened to me? Why was I in the pod?" Max asked.

"You don't remember." Kyle looked surprised. "What _do_ you remember?"

Max reached back in his memory, trying to recall. "It's fuzzy." Max admitted. "I think… I remember having Noah at home. Michael and I fought and Noah escaped. Isobel and I were trying to find him, but she was possessed…so he brought me to him alone and on his terms…after that there's a lot of pain and not much else is clear. Did I fail? I wasn't strong enough to beat him?"

A soft sound caught his attention. It sounded like a mix between a sniffle and a whimper, like someone trying not to cry. He turned, and that's when he finally saw her. 

Liz was sitting on a rock in the corner of the cave, her legs tucked under her, hugging herself, while tears slipped down her cheeks. She had been so quiet until now that Max hadn't even known that she was there.

"Liz…"

Her only answer was the same sound again, and she shook violently as she began to cry harder.

"I'll leave you two alone." Kyle offered, as he closed his bag and slowly headed towards the entrance of the cave. Max rushed over to Liz and sat beside her, wrapping his arms around her. She gripped the front of his t-shirt tightly, clinging to him as she wept into his shoulder.

"Shh… it's okay. I'm here. I've got you. I'm not going anywhere."

"But...you did," she cried. "You did leave me, Max."

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he stroked her hair. "I'm so sorry."

"You really can't remember anything?" Liz asked him once she had calmed herself enough to speak coherently.

He again paused to search, but still nothing clearer came to the surface. "I don't know… there's feelings, impressions, but clear and concrete memories? Not really."

"Can you describe them? The impressions?"

"Um… mostly there's a lot of physical pain, and feeling weak and useless. And then a rush of, I don't know… something? And then it's like I can't grasp onto anything because it's all in hyperdrive, everything blurring together like a rush."

Liz nodded. "Okay. I think between the three of us, Michael, Isobel, and I we've mostly put all the pieces together. Do you want me to explain?" Max gestured for her to continue.

"The pain you remember is from Noah. He basically tortured you. We don't know all of the details because Isobel was possessed, and then blacked out. All we know is that when Michael found you all here in the pod cave, Noah was using his powers to give you a heart attack. Thankfully Michael showed up when he did and was able to throw Noah away from you with his powers. He said that you looked real rough...and that you were worked up about Noah being too strong for you.

"After that we have another gap. Michael distracted Noah, and you ran from the cave. Noah knocked Michael out pretty quickly. When he and Isobel both came to, they rushed out of the cave and found you and Noah facing off, and you had him completely overpowered. Michael said… he said it was like electricity or lightning or something was shooting from your hands and Noah was being electrocuted. And you killed him."

"Noah's dead?" Max asked, hopefully. He couldn't quite believe that it was true, that the nightmare was over.

"He's gone." Liz confirmed. "And he's not coming back."

"Thank God." Max breathed, allowing the relief to wash over him.

"You're not God." Liz insisted sharply. "You have a breaking point, and you found it this time. No more gambling with your life, do you hear me!?!"

"I didn't mean it like that." He replied sheepishly, startled by how angrily Liz reacted. "I'm sorry."

Liz took a deep breath and then continued to explain. 

"So you killed Noah apparently, and from what Michael and Isobel said it was like you were high on drugs or something. Isobel said that you couldn't stand still, you were pacing and talking at a manic pace. You healed Michael's hand even though he begged you not to. Something was just not right with you.

"You walked home from the cave, which probably helped you release at least a bit of that energy, because when I showed up at dawn I couldn't tell that there was anything wrong with you. You just seemed so happy. We were both so happy. And I was so relieved, because I was so afraid that I might lose you…"

Liz looked down and stared for a long time at their joined hands, resting lightly upon her knee. He squeezed her hand lightly, trying to remind her that everything was okay. She pulled his hand up to her chest, holding it lightly to the spot where he had healed her, the spot where his mark had formed on her skin.

"I asked you to mark me again. So that you could feel my feelings for you. You did, and it was amazing. It was like a fucking high for both of us, I think. We were just so happy. I've never seen you so happy."

"Never?" Max was surprised to hear the wistful tone. "Not even that day in the desert back in high school? Or when we first kissed after Texas?"

"No comparison," Liz insisted. "But...um...there were plenty of other reasons for that." She admitted with a flush. "We did a lot more than just kiss that morning."

He was dumbfounded, and just stared at her, mouth open and speechless. 

"Everything felt close to perfect, except for two things. I was feeling guilty about my feelings for you. I wanted you to know how I felt, but I wanted to visit Rosa and explain it to her first. And there was Isobel and all of her trauma over Noah. She called while I was getting ready to leave, wanting to talk to you. You were begging me to stay, begging to come with me...all you wanted was for us to be together. But I told you to go support your sister. A part of me wishes that I had been a little more selfish. Maybe then none of this would have happened."

"Isobel called because she and Michael were searching near the crash site for Noah's pod cave. They found it. And Noah had stashed my sister's body in his pod, where he had been keeping her as a trophy in stasis for a decade."

"Isobel said…" Liz paused, swallowed, and looked back up at him, and Max could see the guilt evident in her eyes. "She said that you were still all manic from what she saw. We've actually had a lot of intense discussions about it. I don't really understand why I didn't see it. I guess I just loved seeing you so happy. She said that you wanted to try to heal her again, but Michael thought he talked you out of it. He didn't."

Max nodded slowly, his eyes falling to study his hands as he absorbed what Liz was telling him. "So I tried to resurrect Rosa and it nearly killed me."

"_NO_." Liz declared firmly. "That's not what happened, Max. You _did_ resurrect Rosa. And it _did_ kill you. You've been dead for six months."

He stared at Liz, completely astonished at her impossible statement. But Liz was a woman of science. She didn't believe in miracles. And she was looking at him so seriously and firmly that he knew that there was no point in questioning what she was saying.

He dropped her hand, lifting his hands and staring at them, turning them over and staring at them wondering how it was possible.

He locked eyes with her again and suddenly he could see the depth of pain and confusion in her eyes. "Six months?" He verified. Liz nodded silently. "I left you. Even though I promised I would always follow you." She confirmed it. "I'm so sorry, Liz. The last thing I'd ever want to do is hurt you."

"I know that." Liz replied softly.

"How's Rosa?" He asked.

"She's good." Liz said. "I mean, of course it was confusing at first. Ten years had passed! But she could see with her own eyes that everything was different. It took a little time for her to adjust, but she's doing well now. I can take you to see her later."

"I'd like that."

Liz suddenly rolled away from him, pushing herself to her feet and turning to stand in front of him.

"How are you feeling now, Max? Any better?"

"A little," Max admitted, as he evaluated himself. "Still have a headache, but it's not nearly so overwhelming. My brain still feels fuzzy. I can tell I'm weak and I feel so tired. But I guess I'm lucky to be here, right?"

Liz nodded. "Okay. We should go then. Everyone's waiting for us."

Max pushed himself to his feet. It felt like a tremendous effort. He took a moment to steady himself, and then took a step towards her, his arms open. "Liz, can I…?" He trailed off, but he didn't need to say anything more. A second later Liz was in his arms, head pressed against his chest. He tucked his chin against her head, pulling her as close as possible. He loved how perfectly she fit in his arms. But then he felt her tremble and his heart sank because he knew she was crying again.

“Liz, I'm so sorry." He murmured softly to her. "I know you didn’t ask for this. And I know how much I've hurt you. But aren't we in a better situation overall now? You have Rosa back, you have me back...isn't that a good thing?”

Immediately Max knew he said something wrong. She stiffened in his embrace and pulled away, looking up at him, her eyes red from too many tears and a look of fear on her face.

"Max, there are two things that I need to say and you need to listen to me and _hear me_, do you understand?" Max nodded. "Don't you fucking dare gamble with your life again like that. You matter, Max Evans. You matter to a lot of people. I don't ever want you to throw your life away, on a whim, for me. Never again."

Max swallowed and nodded. "I won't. I promise "

"Good. You'd better keep that promise." Liz informed him. "Because I'm sure as hell not bringing you back from the dead a second time." Max's eyes narrowed at her words, wondering how she managed that, but before he could ask, she moved on.

"Secondly, and this is really, really important, Max. I've been waiting six months to say this and I don't want to wait another minute. I need you to know that I am completely and utterly in love with you, Max Evans. I fell in love with you even though I tried to fight it, even through everything that happened since I moved home, even though my own feelings terrified me. I love you, and I don't think I could ever run away and leave you behind. I'm staying, Max. I'm staying because I love you."

"Liz…" he gaped at her, unable to respond further because he was silenced by the lump of emotion forming in his throat.

She laughed nervously. "Did I do okay? I had six months to think about what I wanted to say, but I don't have a way with words the way you do."

Max just took a step towards her, sliding his hands down to her waist as he pulled her in for a kiss. He felt Liz smile against his lips as he drank her in. He kissed her with a fire and desperation that he couldn't remember ever feeling before. She clung to him, her fingers clawing into his shirt like she was afraid that he would disappear if she didn't hold on tightly to him. Max wondered how long it would be before she felt like his presence was reliable again. It would take some time, but he planned to work hard to prove to her that he wasn't going anywhere.

When they finally stepped apart, Max was out of breath -- likely a remnant from his weakened state. Liz watched him, worried, but he just smiled gently at her. 

"Everything's going to be okay, Liz. I love you too. And I'm not going anywhere either."


	5. Chapter 5

Things had been rough for her lately. Max could sense it for the last few weeks, and now it was starting to show. Liz just wasn’t smiling like she used to. Her shoulders were slumped, negative energy emanating from her in a way that just wasn’t typical of Liz Ortecho. He was worried. And then he began to hear the whispers.

Her mom was messed up. She drank too much. Once or twice someone saw the Sheriff escorting her home so that she wouldn’t drive herself. And then she took off without even a word of goodbye.

Max hated seeing her in so much pain. The world could be a messed up place sometimes, and he’d read enough tragedies to know that it’s the people closest to you that could mess you up the most.

He wanted to do something to distract her, but he didn’t want to overstep. She was Kyle Valenti’s girlfriend and she had no idea how much he loved her. Casual school friends and lab partners, that’s how he had to play this.

The next day in class, Max waited for her to arrive, his plan fully formed and ready to go. He was antsy, one foot bouncing with unreleased energy under the table with anticipation.

He froze when she walked in the door. Her shoulders were slumped, eyes downcast, and she barely even looked up while she made her way to her seat beside him. Max wanted to pull her into his arms, hold her and comfort her, but he couldn't. It wasn’t his place.

"Hey Liz, I was thinking…" he started to say, purposefully keeping his tone light and casual, but he froze silent when she finally looked up and her red, bloodshot eyes met his. She had been crying. "Liz are you okay?" 

"Not really," she replied, rubbing her eyes. " But it doesn't matter. What were you going to say, Max?"

"Are you sure you..."

"I don't want to talk about it," Liz firmly cut him off. "Talk about something else. Anything else. Please."

"Okay…if you say so." Max agreed. "I was just poking around online last night and I found this website that had a list of fun science experiments. I was thinking maybe we should do some of them. You know, to make the whole science club thing official for our senior year. What do you think?”

"Yeah." Liz replied uncertainly. "Um, sure. I actually did get an email from the yearbook committee the other day. They asked if we were going to be an active club this year and when would be a good time for a yearbook photo. This helps. Now I can let them know when to come."

"Awesome." Max replied. "Cool. When are you free to meet? After school?"

"Not today. I have work. Tomorrow?"

"Perfect." Max replied. I'll get the supplies as set up in the chem lab."

"Great." Liz agreed. "And I'll let yearbook know."

The next day after the final bell, Max pulled the grocery bag from his locker that he had stashed there before school and made his way to the chem lab. He carefully pulled the items from the bag and lay them out on the lab table in front of them.

When Liz walked in a few minutes later, he looked up at her and grinned. "Hey Liz, you ready for some fun?"

She raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a half smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Sure thing, partner. What've we got?" She examined the items set out for their use. "Hmm… cornstarch, glue, borax...are we making rubber, Max?"

"You’ll see!" Max grinned. "Just do what I tell you to do! First, we need two cups."

"Got them."

"Okay, in the first one put two tablespoons of warm water and half a teaspoon of borax. I'll stir while you do the next cup."

Liz measured everything out, handed the cup to Max, and then grabbed the next empty cup.

"In this one, you need a tablespoon of glue first." He waited while Liz measured out the glue. "Okay next is a half teaspoon of this stuff," he explained, gesturing to the cup he was stirring. He went ahead and measured out the appropriate amount and poured it carefully on top of the glue.

"Now a tablespoon of cornstarch on top, and don't stir. Just leave it alone for a minute." Max ordered.

When the minute was just about over, the yearbook crew walked in. "Good timing," Max called. "We're about to get messy! Now stir until you can't stir anymore, Liz!"

Max watched as Liz stirred and stirred as the mixture began to solidify. 

"Hey Evans!" The photographer called out. "Would you mind, I dunno, putting on a lab coat or something so y'all look a little more sciency?"

"Yeah sure," Max replied, wandering over to the supply cabinet.

"What do I do when I can't stir anymore?" Liz called out to him. Her voice had lightened a bit which made Max smile to himself. It seemed like his distraction was working out. "Use your hands!" He replied. "Knead it, like you're making bread. And roll it. You want it to end up as round and smooth as possible!"

He grabbed two lab coats and two pairs of lab goggles, and made his way back to Liz.

"How does it feel?" he asked, placing her lab gear on the table beside her, and shrugging his own lab coat over his shoulders."

"A little sticky still," Liz said, "but it's definitely getting more solid." 

"Keep going until you think the stickiness is gone to your liking." Max told her. "Meanwhile I'm going to make another."

He cleaned the cups out and started again, mixing the same ingredients together. After a few more minutes, Liz stopped kneading the material and rolled it along the tabletop until it was perfectly round. While she waited for him to catch up, she slipped into her own lab gear.

A few minutes later, they were both holding their completed creations. 

"So… Liz… what did we just make?" Max asked mischievously.

"A weird ball of rubbery...stuff." Liz replied.

Max sighed and shook his head. "Liz Ortecho, sometimes you just need to let out the kid inside you!"

He turned to the wall behind them and with a swift motion, tossed their creation, watching as it bounced perfectly from the floor, to the wall, back to the floor, and back into his hand.

"What is it Liz?" Max asked with a laugh as he repeated the motion.

"Is it… a bouncy ball?" Liz asked incredulously.

"Yup!" Max confirmed.

And then Liz did something he hadn't seen her do in weeks. She laughed out loud. 

“Max Evans, I might just kiss you!" She exclaimed.

Max immediately flushed, and the lights in the lab began to flicker. Between the sheer joy of the moment, hearing Liz laugh again after she had been in so much pain, combined with the constant, intense presence of his desire and longing for her, he lost control. He took a deep breath, steadying himself and the lights steadied with his heart rate, returning to normal. 

"Whoa, that was weird," the photographer commented. Liz didn't immediately reply. She was too busy bouncing her ball and chasing it around the room, giggling all throughout. 

“Nah!” Max heard her finally call out to the photographer, as she held her ball up in victory. “I’m convinced our power company just sucks. The lights seem to flicker around me all the time!” 

Max flushed. He really needed to work on controlling his powers more consistently around her.

"Let's wrap this up," the photographer announced. "I wanna get out of here. Would you mind just posing for one?"

They stepped back behind the lab table, and Max smiled awkwardly, while Liz made a funny face. Then the photographer took off and left them alone to slowly clean up after themselves.

"Hey Max?" Liz suddenly said. "Thanks for this. Things have been...really rough lately. My mom...and Rosa… it's just not a good time for my family. I don't think I realized how much I needed a distraction. I had a lot of fun today."

"Happy to help, Liz." Max replied honestly. "I'm here for you if you need anything, okay?"

"Thanks." Liz replied with a smile.

Max took their lab gear back to the supply cabinet. While his head was stuck in the cabinet, he almost missed the sound of the lab door opening and Kyle Valenti walking in. 

"You ready, Liz? Let's get going!" 

"Yup!” Max heard her reply. He stayed hidden behind the supply cabinet doors. He didn’t really know why. Part of him just didn’t want to watch Liz and Kyle acting all coupley in front of him, while another part of him was just afraid that if she saw his face, the disappointment at her running off so quickly would be written all over it.

"Bye Max!" She called out to him, and just like that she was gone.

Max stepped out from behind the cabinet door once he heard the door close safely behind them. Sighing, he slid onto an empty lab stool, slouching over the table, as he buried his face in his hands.

Just like that the fantasy ended and reality set in. Liz was leaving with her boyfriend, and Max was alone, cleaning up after them in an empty lab.

  
  



	6. Chapter 6

Liz was always trying to be perfect. At least, that was the teenage Liz Ortecho that Rosa remembered. Her hair was always perfectly straight, often pulled back to ensure that it stayed out of her face. She never broke the rules, always did her homework, and got perfect grades. On her worst days, Rosa found Liz to be tedious and looked for ways to poke holes in her perfect image. There were a lot of those bad days. Too many bad days.

On her better days, Rosa knew that her sister was destined for great things. Better things. Roswell, New Mexico would never be able to contain a force like Liz Ortecho. She was guaranteed to leave this sleepy town. She was going to change the world.

Rosa didn't quite know what to make of the real Liz Ortecho. She was still a force of nature. Rosa had watched her cry and fight, heartbreak and anger all mixed together when she saw Max's body. But once her initial reaction was over, she rubbed the tears from her eyes and went straight to work, stripping his clothes off and smearing his body with silver goop from head to toe. 

This is a Liz Ortecho who thinks fast and isn't afraid to get her hands dirty.

It wasn't long before Izzy and Michael Guerin came running into the cave. They both froze at the scene in front of them, but Liz didn't even let them react. 

"Help me get him in the pod!" she ordered.

"Liz…" Michael started, but she wouldn't let him speak.

"Don't argue with me. I have a plan. We need to get him in stasis. NOW."

And that was it. There was no more arguing. Izzy and Michael just moved to Liz's side, and the three of them worked together to lift Max's body and push it into the pod.

It was like the fight went out of her once Max was settled in the pod. She fell to knees in front of the pod, the tears slipping from her eyes again as she reached out and pressed a hand to the pod's surface.

Michael and Izzy just stood and watched from a few feet away. Tears were running down Izzy's cheeks as well, but Michael just looked stone faced. Rosa shivered at the cold, angry look in his eyes. Something felt wrong with him, but she didn't quite know what.

Rosa stepped past them, pulling the blanket tighter around her body so that she could lean down and try to extract her sister from her position of mourning in front of the pod. Thankfully it worked. Only a soft nudge from Rosa and Liz was back on her feet, hugging Rosa tightly. Rosa could feel as her sister's breathing began to settle, and finally, when she seemed calm enough, Rosa quietly asked, "Why don't you tell us about the rest of your plan?"

Again, Liz wiped her face clean before turning to the others. "Michael, can you move the pod with your powers?"

Michael narrowed his eyes, and for a second, Rosa thought he was going to say something rude. Instead she leapt to the side with a frightened gasp as the pod lifted up in the air a few feet and started floating towards the cave exit. 

"No problem." Michael called back to Liz.

"Good. Load him into your truck and take him to your pod cave. Noah said that his pod was defective, which is why he went insane and started murdering people. I want Max out of that pod and into one of your functional ones as soon as possible."

"Good call." Michael agreed.

"Isobel, Rosa… help me pack up anything remotely useful or alien looking in here. We'll take it with us to the other cave. I never want to see this place again."

As they were bringing their last load to the car, Rosa noticed something in Liz's car just kept ringing. Like a little Christmas bell.

"Do you hear that?" Rosa asked, wondering what it was and why nobody was stopping it.

"Just my phone." Liz said dismissively. "Somebody is lighting it up with text messages. It's fine. I'll get it later. What we're doing is way more important."

"If you say so!" Rosa agreed, as it rang a few more times.

"Get in the car, we've got to go." Liz ordered and she jumped into the front seat while Izzy slipped into the back. They barely had the doors closed before Liz had the engine running and the car moving.

Rosa heard the noise again, louder this time, and noticed a little flat device sitting in the cup holder. "Is that your phone?" Liz confirmed. "Can I stop the ringing?"

"Yeah." Liz agreed. "The passcode is your birthday, 6 digits. Just let me know who’s texting like crazy."

Rosa punched in the numbers and the phone opened directly to a list of messages. 

"It looks like… new messages from Kyle and Maria. Both. Liz. Please don't tell me you're still dating Kyle Valenti?" Rosa asked with a laugh. She didn't know how long had passed, but from the look of each of the people she had seen so far, she was certain that a significant amount of time had passed.

"I'm not." Liz said softly. "I'm with Max."

Rosa wanted to kick herself. Of course Liz was with Max. That reaction wasn't the kind of grief you have for a casual friend. 

Another ring sounded and a new message popped up.

"Kyle." Rosa announced.

"What does it say?" Liz asked.

"He says the lack of response is starting to worry him. He just needs to know if you're okay. No burst stitches or infection…Liz, are you hurt!?"

"I'm fine!" Liz insisted. "Just got cut a bit last night. Had to have Kyle come stitch me up. It's no big deal. I'll call him when we stop."

"Liz, how close did my husband come to killing you?" 

Rosa and Liz both froze. Isobel had been so quiet that they had forgotten she was there.

"It's okay, Isobel. Just a flesh wound. He got me with a knife when he escaped from the freezer. Kyle patched me up and I'm going to be fine."

Another ring interrupted them 

"Maria?" Liz asked. "What does she say."

"She says she needs her girlfriend  _ now _ to come talk and to stop ignoring her and get down to the Wild Pony. She says that… oh. Guerin kissed her and then ran off."

"Shit." Liz grumbled. "What the hell am I supposed to do with that? It's not like I can tell her that Michael ran off because his psychic alien connection with Max went nuts and he felt Max die resurrecting my dead sister." Liz let out a loud, angry laugh.

She suddenly stopped the car. Rosa looked around. It just seemed like they were in the middle of the desert, but then again, so did their first location. 

"Will you start taking things into the cave? I should call Kyle back."

Rosa took one of the big pots full of silver goo from the trunk and followed Izzy to the cave. When they turned to go back for more, Rosa almost walked straight into Liz, who was walking into the cave. 

“Everything ok with Kyle?” Rosa asked. 

“Yeah,” Liz said, her voice distracted as her eyes drifted to Max’s pod. “We’re going to meet him at his place after we’re done here.” Liz explained. “Where’s Michael?”

“He was already gone when we got here.” Isobel said, “I think he’s spiraling.”

“At least he took care of Max before running off.” Liz pointed out.

His sister rolled her eyes. “That was the least he could do.”

Once the car was unloaded, Liz took Isobel home and, as she indicated earlier, headed to Kyle’s house. Rosa wondered what kind of a man her half brother by birth had grown into. The kind of man who gives a girl stitches and then worries about it all the next day. She wondered if either of her siblings knew about her secret Valenti bloodline. She was still getting used to the idea before… well, before whatever had happened. Liz couldn’t have been serious when she said ‘resurrect’ after all.

Her sister pulled her car up to the curb in front of a small house in a unfamiliar subdivision, probably because it was new. Liz turned off the engine and turned to Rosa.

“Can you adjust the blanket so that your face is hidden?” Rosa nodded and then shifted the blanket around to make a headwrap to cover her face and hair. “This good?” She asked.

“Yeah.” Liz affirmed. “So, Kyle is going to be pretty shocked to see you. Happy, but shocked. I want to prep him a bit. Would you mind coming up and hanging back a bit while I talk? Then we’ll go in. No one can see your face though, until we’re safe inside.”

“Got it,” Rosa agreed

Liz lead Rosa up the walkway to the house. Halfway there, Kyle flung the front door open, and Rosa had to quickly duck and hide her face.

“What the hell, Liz? Yesterday was insane, you almost died, and then just… nothing? Radio silence for almost a whole day? And who is this?”

“It’s just been nonstop, Kyle. A lot has happened since I saw you last. Hey, before we come in. Remember that conversation we had yesterday while you were stitching me up? About that thing that Noah told me, but you already knew?”

“That Rosa was my sister? Yes, I’m aware. Your point?”

Liz didn’t even need to gesture at her . Rosa stepped a little closer to her sister and lowered the wrap away from her face so that Kyle could see just enough to know it’s her. His eyes widened, mouth dropped open, and he was speechless for about a split second before it was like something important crossed his mind and he ushered them inside.

“Rosa…” Kyle gaped. “How is this possible.” 

“My idiot alien boyfriend decided that I was better off with her than with him, it seems.” Liz replied dryly. “Now I get back the person that I’ve missed the most for the last 10 years, but in exchange I lose the person that I’ve just fallen in love with. Max is lying dead in an alien pod right now. Unless we can figure out how to revive him like he revived Rosa. You’ll help, right?”

“Of course.”

“10 years?” Rosa suddenly burst out. “Well, shit. No wonder you made me hide my face! Kyle, any chance you have some, like, shorts and a T-shirt I can borrow? I’m getting real sick of wearing nothing but this blanket.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Kyle agreed. “I’ll go dig something out. And then I want to check your wound, Liz. And I should probably do a quick check on you too, Rosa, to make sure nothing’s wrong. Sound good?”

Kyle disappeared down the hallway and Rosa took advantage of the opportunity to speak to her sister. “So you already knew? About my birth father?”

“I did,” Liz confirmed.

“I’m not even an Ortecho.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course you are.”

“Papi and I aren’t related at all.”

“Rosa, listen to me. Papi raised you. Papi loves you. Papi has mourned you every day that you’ve been gone. He prays for you during _Día de Muertos_ every year. Your picture stays on the wall in the Crashdown kitchen. Jim Valenti may have been your blood, but you _are_ an Ortecho. We’re family.”

Kyle's voice echoed down from the hallway, “Okay Rosa, I laid some options out for you in the bedroom. Just grabbing some supplies to check Liz, and I’ll be out of your way.”

“You just happened to add a pretty kick ass brother now too.” Liz added with a smile, pushing Rosa towards the hallway.

  
  



	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adult ficlet!

Liz straddled Max’s hips, hands braced on his bare chest, as she kissed his jawline gently. 

He hummed happily, trying not to lose control, as her lips trailed down to his neckline. The lights flickered as she sucked on his skin, and his humming deepened to a soft moan.

As Liz’s lips continued to roam, he groaned, “Oh God…”

She suddenly slowed her explorations, and he whimpered softly. “What? Are you not enjoying this?” She teased with a mischievous grin. 

“No...it’s heaven. We’ve been gloriously holed up in here for 48 hours,” he sighed, “But maybe we need to get back to the outside world?”

“Is that what you want?” Liz asked him, before sliding a little lower down his torso and lightly dragging her tongue over his nipple before wrapping her mouth around it and lightly nipping at his sensitive skin. 

Max cried out, an incoherent sound of pleasure as he buckled his hips upward against her. “Not particularly,” he gasped.

“Is there anything you need to be doing right now besides this?” Liz moves her attention to the other nipple. He started breathing faster as the burning need grew inside of him.

“No…” he moaned. “It’s just… you know… uh…” Words kept slipping from his mind. It was hard to focus on anything but her lips, as they began to make their way down his stomach towards his groin and… “Job!” Max suddenly yelled out. “I need to find out if I still have a job. Seeing as I disappeared for...ohhhh…so long.”

“I don’t think that needs to happen today,” Liz murmured, before pressing a light kiss to the skin just below his belly button. “Monday is a good day for stuff like that, right?”

“I… uhhh… yeah… that makes sense.” The lights flickered again as she slid her body further down his, for more comfortable access to her destination. “What about Rosa? Doesn’t she need you?”

“Rosa’s fine,” Liz dismissed. He could feel her hot breath on his skin, and he trembled in anticipation.

“How about the Crashdown? Do you need to work?”

“No! And that’s final.” Liz insisted. “You had to go and die on me and I worked fucking hard to bring you back to me. And this is what I want from you now. We are staying here, in this house, alone together, until I've convinced myself that you won’t disappear on me again. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Max complied.

“Good. Now where was I?” Liz smiled, leaned down, and took his cock fully in her mouth.

And that was when the lights blew out all around them.


	8. Chapter 8

They lay there beside each other in her bed, the dim reflection of the neon light from the downtown strip the only thing lighting the room. It sent an eerie shifting glow traveling across Liz’s face so that different portions of it were illuminated periodically as the lights rotated outside. Max didn’t mind though. For him it was like a spotlight, allowing him to focus on and absorb the tiny details of the various regions of her face in a way that he couldn’t when he was looking at it all at once.

There… a shift of the light and it was just the tip of her nose and her top right lip. He loved her nose. It was adorable, perfect, and when they leaned into each other, and just the tips of their noses would smush together just a bit…he loved that moment between them now. When they were younger it was both perfect from the joy it brought in the moment, and painful because he was always left longing for more. Now it often led to kisses… which sometimes led to something even more extraordinary. Like tonight...

He wrapped an arm around her, leaned over, and pressed a light kiss to the tip of her nose, before moving lower and capturing her lips. It was a slow, lazy kiss that came in the haze of their earlier lovemaking. 

Lia broke the kiss unexpectedly and yawned, then giggled. “I’m sorry. I’m really tired. I’m probably going to fall asleep.”

“I should go.” His arm loosened around her like he was going to roll away and out of their embrace.

“Why?” Liz asked. 

“Because if I don’t go right now, things are gonna change,” Max admitted softly.

“Change how?” Liz asked, genuinely confused. 

“Liz, you know how much I love you. I want to be with you...all the time. If you let me stay the night, I’m never going to want to leave.” Max paused, searching for the words to explain. “It’s just...if I wake up beside you even once, every  morning without you is just going to feel cold and lonely.”

“Max…” Liz breathed. 

“Wait!” He cut her off quickly. “Just, please, let me say this. I… it means everything to me to be with you like this. To kiss you…” he couldn’t help leaning in and capturing her lips softly. “To make love to you. Just being by your side, being  _ allowed _ to love you...it’s an honor. I’m so grateful for it. But I know how hard it was for you to get here with me. And I don’t want to do anything to pressure you into taking another step forward before you’re ready, okay?”

“Oh Max,” Liz murmured, reaching over to pull his face towards her for another kiss. “I love you, you big, alien idiot.” She whispered into his ear between kisses. She rolled over so that she was on top of him, and then leaned down and kissed him again. He sat up, so that he could look her right in the eyes, and she locked her legs around his waist, sitting body to body. Liz wrapped her arms around him, leaning her head on his shoulder, clinging to him tightly.

“I thought I lost you.” Her words were so soft that he could barely even hear them. But he did, and guilt overwhelmed him. 

“I never wanted to bring you more pain by doing what I did.”

“You did.” Her voice was sharper this time and the words cut. 

“I know.” He sighed regretfully. “I’m sorry.” 

They sat there in silence. Liz continued to embrace him. Max held her gently, feeling her heart beating against him, and the gentle warmth of her breath on his neck. Her hair had the scent of desert rose, and he kept breathing it in like oxygen, filing his lungs and through his lungs, into his heart and soul.

“Can you stay?”

When she said it, he wasn’t quite prepared for it. “What!?!” He gaped.

“I said, ‘can you stay’, Max.” Liz stated firmly, lifting her head from his shoulder and looking him straight in the eyes so that he could see how dead serious she was. “And then maybe tomorrow let’s look at what we need to do to move me into your house.”

“Are you sure?” He asked one more time, searching her eyes for any sign of uncertainty. 

She gripped his face in her hands, looking him straight in the eye. “I’m not going anywhere, Max. I had months of living a life where I loved you and lost you. Now that I have you back, I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

Max chuckled. “Well I hope you’re prepared for a lot of ride-alongs then, ma’am.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a continuation of Fictober #3...

It was an odd, but comforting family reunion.

Most intense family gatherings don’t begin after ten o’ clock at night, but in this case, with the Crashdown closing for the evening, it was that late when Liz brought Rosa home for the first time in a decade.

The reunion went well. Papi didn’t have a heart attack, and Rosa was finally at ease, being at _her_ home with _her_ family. Papi was overjoyed to have both his daughters back. So sleep simply wasn’t an option. 

Liz and her father traded off telling amusing stories of the past 10 years to Rosa, while Rosa roared with laughter. Most of Papi’s stories even Liz hadn’t heard yet, and it reminded her how much of her father’s life she had missed...so much time wasted while she was running and hiding from her pain.

Later, when the laughter died down a bit, and Rosa was silenced with an enormous yawn, their father asked, "What did Rosa mean earlier when she said that I was the best 'out of everyone'. Who else have you seen, Rosa?"

"Papi, don't blame Rosa," Liz insisted. "I was the one who was keeping her hidden."

"It's been, what? Two weeks or so?" Rosa mused.

"Fifteen days, 13 hours, and…" Liz glanced at her phone. "...24 minutes. Since I found you in the desert and Max's body in the cave."

Rosa and Papi both just stared sadly at her, wide eyed. "Yeah, I know!" Liz cried out. "_Muy idiota_! But I'm feeling every single minute that he's gone, like each one is like a pin prick to my heart. Each one alone is small and insignificant, but with time? I won't be able to tolerate the pain anymore. I have to figure out how to save him before I fall apart. I have to!!"

"Oh Liz…" Rosa reached over and hugged her sister tightly. "We all see how hard you're working. If it's possible to save him, you will."

"Yeah." Liz agreed. "But what if it's not?"

They both fell silent. Nobody ever had a good answer for that question, or any words that actually brought Liz any comfort. 

After a long moment of silence, Papi gently replied, “Then we thank God for the brief time we had with him and we pray that his soul finds peace, _mija_.”

It wasn’t what Liz wanted to hear, and it hurt like hell. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, trying to fight back the tears that were stinging and threatening to fall. Once she was sure she could claim victory over them, she reopened her eyes and told them, “Well then, Max is damn lucky that I’m a fighter.”

Papi nodded and thankfully redirected the conversation. “But two whole weeks! Where have you been hiding, Rosa?”

“Mostly with Liz at Max’s house. Occasionally with Kyle at his place. One very weird night at Isobel Evans’ house, and that was an experience I do not want to relive!”

“Why?” Papi asked.

“Just… it gave me the chills being in that house. It was like I could feel him all over it. Like he was watching me the way he used to.”

“He’s gone, Rosa,” Liz insisted. “Max told me himself that he’d never be coming back. Michael and Isobel saw Max…” Liz’s voice faltered. “...they said they saw Max kill him. You’re safe. We’re all safe.”

“I think...we need to stop with the sad and scary talk,” Papi announced. “Instead I think it’s time that we talk about the happy times. I think it’s time for a churro pancakes talk, Liz. Tell Rosa and I _tu loca historia de amor_ with Max, hmm?”

Liz couldn’t help laughing as her father wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her. “Oh we are definitely going to need churro pancakes for that conversation!” Liz announced, tossing off the blanket she had wrapped around her lap. “I’d better get cooking!”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Pancakes are served!” Liz announced with a flourish, as she slid the plates across the Crashdown kitchen counter at her family. 

“I’m still not sure about this new recipe of yours, _mija_,” Papi said skeptically as he cut his first bite and took a sniff. Rosa had already shoved some in her mouth chewing slowly, with uncertainty.

"There is a certain taste to it. It's not churros exactly. More like actual dirt. Seriously Liz, are you feeding us dirt? How did you manage to take something as perfect as Papi's churro pancakes and turn them into this?"

Liz and their father both burst out laughing at the look of disgust on Rosa's face.

"Rosa! I told you that Papi hasn't been well. He's pre-diabetic. He can't eat all that sugar anymore!"

"Well yeah…" Rosa said with a smirk. “But does that mean we have to suffer?”

“Rosa!” Liz scolded, but Papi cut them off before they could argue further.

“Now girls, let’s get on with it here. I believe Liz promised us a love story.”

“I don’t know how much there is to tell,” Liz admitted. “Sure there was a lot of...I don’t know...feelings between us, but it all happened so fast.”

“Did it though?” Rosa asked. “You were interested at the end of senior year.”

“You were friends with him in high school, yes?” Arturo wondered.

“Well yeah… we were friends, lab partners...and we went on a date.”

“What!?!” Rosa exclaimed in unison with Papi musing, “I didn’t know that.”

“Well, it was earlier on the day that Rosa died,” Liz explained softly. “So we didn’t really get a chance to talk about it. He took me out to the desert, and we listened to music and watched the sunset. We danced. It was perfect. Until I told him that I was leaving town. He asked me to stay, and I refused. Then he offered to come with me. I think...he was already in love with me then, but I didn’t really understand. Then Rosa died, everything fell apart, and I left without him and broke his heart.”

“Wasn’t this talk supposed to be about the happy times?” Rosa asked through a mouthful of pancake. “So far we have death and heartbreak, so, great start there, Liz.”

Liz made a face at her sister. “Fast forward ten years, okay. I guess Max never really got over me. And while I may not have been in love with him in quite the same way, I certainly had unresolved feelings for him that I had buried along with everything else that I loved about this town. Except for Papi, of course.

“Then the government pulled my study’s funding and I lost my job in Denver, unexpectedly. Somehow, in a decade, that had never happened before. I had always had the next thing lined up. But this time, for the first time, I had nothing. I needed to reboot my life. So I dumped my fiancée, packed my car, and drove home.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Rosa interjected. “Did you just say fiancée? Elizabeth, you’ve been keeping secrets! Spill!”

“Different guy, different story!” Liz protested. 

“Let’s save it for another night, _muchachas_.” Arturo agreed.

“Fiiiiine!” Rosa complained. “Continue. I guess.”

“So, I’m driving back into Roswell for the first time in 10 years, and I drive right into an ICE checkpoint. Which is totally illegal this far from the border. So ICE tries to hide what they’re really doing by making the local sheriff's department set up a DWI checkpoint. And the locals can’t really say no to the Feds, right?”

“Bastards,” Rosa muttered.

“So, I’m driving into the checkpoint, and they wave for me to stop, and I just lose it. I roll down my window and start digging for my passport, and all the while I am just going off on this guy, telling him he’s a racist, citing the legal precedent that I’m gonna sue him under...and then I turn to show him my identification…”

“...and it’s Max?” Rosa interrupts.

“It’s Max.” Liz confirms. “And he’s staring at me like he’s seeing a ghost. And we’re both almost speechless at the sight of each other. Then Sheriff Valenti steps in to see what’s going on and the moment is over. At least, until Max showed up at the Crashdown that night after closing. And that’s when we actually talked, and caught up a bit. There was a moment between us that was just electric…and then Wyatt Long shot out the Crashdown windows.”

“The windows and the outside lights,” Arturo corrected. “I am so glad that Max was here with you.”

“Yeah.” Liz agreed. “Yeah, it was a really good thing, Papi. Because one of the bullets got me. I was shot. Wyatt Long would have murdered me on my very first night back in Roswell, if Max hadn’t been there.”

“Oh Lizzie,” Arturo gasped.

“I was bleeding out on the floor, and Max just didn’t even hesitate. He put his hand over the wound and healed me. And then went after Wyatt. Oh, and Wyatt didn’t shoot out the lights, Papi. That was Max. He, uh… his power is somehow tied to electromagnetic energy. I haven’t quite figured it all out yet, if he channels it and uses it to do what he does, but it’s also somehow tied to his state of mind, like when things get intense or emotional for him, it also tends to affect the electricity in the area, so I still want to know if it’s that he draws from it, or just is connected to it, or…”

“Liz, you’re rambling.” Rosa interrupted.

“Right.” Liz acknowledged. “Sorry. So if you just want the shiny happy version of things, Max revealed himself to me and told me that he had loved me since the first day he met me. We slowly got to know each other better, but I was always hung up on the idea that he might love the idea of me more than the reality of me, so finally I called him out on it. And he proved me wrong. So I kissed him.”

“He proved you wrong?” Her Papi asked.

“He listed my faults. Trust me, it was way more romantic than it sounds.” Liz insisted, before taking a big bite of pancakes.

“So what are you leaving out. The part about me?” Rosa asked.

“Well, that among other things,” Liz admitted. “I found out that you were murdered by an alien and I was trying to be sneaky about investigating him, but I lost it pretty quickly and accused him to his face of murdering you. Which in turn upset and hurt him so much that he accidentally blew the power grid for the entire town.”

“The mysterious power outage!” Arturo exclaimed

“Yup. My fault.” Liz confessed. “Then Noah tried to kill me, and Max saved my life...again. And then he finally told me the truth as he knew it about what happened when you died. I told him I never wanted to see him again because of what he did to our family. Then I was so angry that I spent weeks in my lab creating a weapon to protect myself against an alien. Then Isobel injected herself with it and almost died. And I felt horribly guilty about my role in that, plus came to a few of my own realizations about how much I cared for Max, so I spent weeks working to cure her. And then we kissed.”

“Oh, is that it?” Rosa laughed.

“The short version.” Liz confirmed. “But this is what I meant when I said earlier that it all happened so fast, Papi. That kiss was just a few days before the gala. The night of the gala was when we confirmed Noah’s identity. The next night is when Max killed him, and the morning after that he brought Rosa back and died. We only had a few days together. I mean, we haven’t even officially gone on a second date yet. Just that one date back in high school.”

“Oh Lizzie, I’m so sorry,” Arturo murmured. “Come here mija.” 

He opened his arms and Liz leaned in to hug her Papi. He opened one arm wider and gestured for Rosa to join them. She did, and the three Ortechos stood there in the kitchen of their family restaurant, the smell of cinnamon still in the air from the pancakes fresh off the griddle, and basked in the miracle that they were together again.

When they separated, Arturo looked at his two girls, still so alike, even though instead of two years apart they were now over eight years apart.

“Liz, keep the faith. You may not have alien powers, but you do have one of the most amazing minds and hearts I have ever known. If anyone can bring your Max back, it is you.” He squeezed Rosa’s hand and smiled. “I may not have believed yesterday that the dead can return, but I have been proven wrong. Rosa is with us again. So what’s to say that another miracle can’t happen too?”  



	10. Chapter 10

She couldn't stop staring at his hand. 

His perfect, flawless hand that only a few days earlier had been scarred and mangled. She  _ knew _ it had been. She sat there beside him while Arizona examined it up close. She watched him harass Max for even a split second of believing that the healing might have worked.

But now his flawless fingers were plucking away at the guitar strings like they had never been damaged.

And he looked  _ so damn happy _ .

Embers began smouldering inside of Maria, the heat rising. She told herself it could be new. They hadn't talked yet. He knew that she was looking for a miracle too. She shouldn't assume anything until they actually talked.

"Guerin…" she started, but before she could say another word he suddenly seized up and cried out in pain.

"Oh my God, Michael!?!" Maria rushed across the room to him. She, too, felt a sharp surge through her mind, like a slight electrical shock. Maria thought she was picking it up from Michael, but she wasn’t quite sure. However, if it was strong enough for her to feel a slight surge or pain, it had to be debilitating for Michael.

He convulsed and moaned, jumping to his feet and turning towards the wall. Maria took the guitar from him and he braced himself against the wall with both hands, breathing heavily.

"What is it?" she asked. "What's wrong."

“Listen, I can’t explain it. You’ll have to trust me," he gasped. "Can you drive? Ahhhh!" He cried out in pain again, and Maria flinched. "I'll direct you where to go," he finished.

"Of course," Maria agreed. "Come on."

Michael was clearly weak and in pain, as Maria helped him into the passenger seat of her truck. As she hurried around to the driver side, she saw him tilt his head back and take a swig of water...wait, no. The bottle wasn't shaped like a water bottle. It looked more like...nail polish remover?

Maria shook her head. That was completely ridiculous. 

"Where are we going?" Maria asked.

"Out in the desert northwest of town." Michael groaned. "Near the crash site." 

"The crash site?" Maria gaped. "Michael, you need a doctor!"

"No...I don't. Please, DeLuca.” He begged, before the next surge of pain hit him. “The desert." He bellowed, as it overtook him.

She decided not to argue again. Biting her tongue, she turned west towards the highway, her fingers nervously drumming on the gear shift. Once they were clear of town, she gunned it as much as she justifiably could.

They were maybe 10 minutes out of town when Maria realized that Guerin had been quiet for a little while. His moans of pain had subsided, and now he was just sitting silently, staring out the window, a sad, distant look on his face.

"Michael, what is it? What changed?"

"Just...cold," Michael replied. He opened his mouth to say more, but before he could his phone rang. He answered without looking back at Maria.

"Yeah, I know. I felt it too." He said to whoever was on the phone. "I'm on my way out there. Maybe 10 minutes away. Get here when you can." Michael paused and listened for a moment. "I know, Iz. I'm scared too. Don't jump to conclusions. Maybe he just passed out or something...yeah. I'll let you know what I find."

He hung up the phone and slipped it in his pocket.

"There's a dirt road to the right about three miles up. Take a right." Michael directed.

"Sure thing, cowboy." Maria replied.

That got Michael's attention, and he shifted to look at her. "Thank you." He said simply. "I don't know what I would've done if you weren't there."

"No problem." She paused, weighing whether or not to say more. Her curiosity was burning, but she could tell that Michael was in a bad place. Maria didn't know how much to push him. But she was never one to hide from a problem, so she finally let her curiosity win.

"Michael, what the hell is going on? How did Isobel know that something had happened to you? What are you so worried about?"

"Almost there." Michael announced, so Maria slowed and put her questions aside as Michael pointed to the dirt road and directed her into the desert. The dirt road was bumpy from the travel of heavy vehicles, and it was full of potholes, rocks, and other uneven surfaces. Maria dropped her questions to focus on navigating the roadway.

A few minutes later Michael directed her to take a left, and then another right. Maria squinted as she could see something shiny up ahead. As it grew closer, larger, and came into focus, she realized that it was Liz's new car.

"Michael...what does Liz have to do with this?"

"Shit…" Michael cursed. "Dammit! Listen, DeLuca, I don't know what we're going to find down there. You might see some crazy things. But more likely we're just gonna find Liz distraught and needing a friend. If so, I'm glad you're here no matter what crazy stuff you see."

Maria pulled the truck up behind Liz's car, and she and Guerin lept from the car and he led her down the Sandy slope and into the arroyo.

Guerin clearly knew where they were going, so Maria just followed closely behind. She knew when they were close though, because she could hear the sound of Liz crying...or really, wailing with grief. Maria's heart seized at the sound of it, even as she heard Michael cursed again.

He led her to the mouth of a barely noticeable cave, ducked through the entrance, and into the dim cavern. The space was lit only with small candles and...oh. Maria's eyes froze on the enormous glowing egg in the corner that was the main source of light, emitting a dim amber hue. 

And then her eyes lowered to where Liz had thrown herself on the floor of the cave, draped over an incredibly still Max Evans as she wept and pounded his chest.

"Oh Liz…" Maria murmured. 

“Dammit, Max!” Michael groaned.

“She’s been like that for a little while now.” A familiar voice added. “I haven’t been able to snap her out of it.”

Maria turned to face the person, who was standing so still against the cave wall to the side of the entrance that she hadn’t even noticed her until she spoke. Maria froze at the sight of a face that she remembered every day, but hadn’t seen in a decade. The face of her dead best friend.

She suddenly felt wobbly, light headed, and she didn’t want to pass out, so she grabbed onto Guerin for support. “Rosa?” She asked. Her voice sounded weak, childish to her own ears. “But...I don’t understand. How are you here.”

“Yeah, Liz,” Guerin suddenly exploded, his voice loud, accusing, and sharp enough to pull Liz’s attention from Max, her red, swollen eyes looking up to where Guerin loomed over her. “What  _ did _ happen here, Liz? Max couldn’t bear to keep a secret from you, so he brought you here to see your sister's body on display? And at the sight of poor Rosa’s face again, you begged him to try to bring her back, didn’t you? And he was so determined that he tried and he tried until it killed him.”

“Noooo.” Liz protested, her body still convulsing from the deep sobs. “No, it wasn’t like that at all. I...I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have…” Liz hiccuped and took a deep breath to try to steady herself. “I was at the cemetery, visiting Rosa. I felt it. I felt his pain...and then I felt it all stop. Somehow I was able to follow it here. That’s how I found this place. Found Rosa alive… and Max…” Liz looked down at him and shifted so that his head was in her lap, and she gently stroked her hand through his hair. “He did it for me.”

“You  _ felt _ him?” Maria asked. “And you were able to follow that feeling here?” It sounded completely implausible.

“Yeah, actually, good question. How could you feel him like that?” Michael demanded to know.

Liz blushed and reached up to press a hand over her heart. She pulled her top to the side a bit to look at the skin a bit, then shrugged, and let it fall back into place. “I asked Max to connect with me,” Liz admitted with a blush, “this morning, after everything was over. I wanted him to feel my feelings for him since I didn’t think I was ready to say it to him yet.”

“He marked you,” Michael declared with a roll of his eyes.

“I  _ asked _ him to.” Liz emphasized again.

“And seeing him this morning, connecting with him,  _ feeling him _ like that, you never once thought, ‘gee, something seems off about Max today’?”

“We were happy. It was nice to be happy with him.”

“Liz, he was high on a power trip from killing Noah.”

“He...what?”

“ _ I _ had never seen him like that before, Liz. He was manic. Pacing around, rambling. He grabbed my hand and healed it, without even asking,” Michael held up his hand for Liz to see, while Maria gasped at the implication of what he said. 

“After he left you, he met us here, and almost immediately he started rambling about wanting to push ourselves to become more powerful, to access new powers or stronger powers. And he wanted to start by trying to heal Rosa. We told him not to, convinced him to leave with us, but I guess he decided to come back on his own.”

Liz suddenly pushed herself to her feet, a determined glint shining in her otherwise puffy eyes. 

“Max brought Rosa back from the dead after ten years. He’s been gone for less than an hour. If Rosa can be standing here alive then that means we can bring Max back too… we just need some time to figure out how.”

“So how do we buy him time?” Maria asked.

“The same way that Rosa’s body survived for ten years.” Liz replied. She turned to Michael. “And the same way we kept Isobel alive when she was about to die. We put him on ice...so to speak. We put him in a stasis pod, similar to this one,” Liz gestured to the giant egg thing. “This one’s not in great shape. It was damaged in the crash. But the other pods aren’t far from here. We’ll take him there.”

Maria watched as Liz took a deep breath, brushing the last tears from her eyes. "No more crying." She heard her friend whisper.

"Now…" Liz started, but Rosa interrupted her with a loud, "No!"

They all fell silent and turned to look at Rosa.

"I think I've been pretty damn understanding so far here, but I've been standing over here listening to you talking  _ loco _ things like pods and healing powers and connections and crashes...if somebody doesn't tell me what the hell is going on,  _ now _ , then I'm not going anywhere."

Rosa looked at each of them, one by one, giving each a penetrating look. When she reached Maria, she threw up her hands. "Hey, I'm as in the dark as you! I'm just the D.D.!" 

There was awkward silence.

Finally Liz spoke up first. "Okay, fine…" but Michael held up a hand and she froze.

"Thanks, Liz, but Maria really deserves to hear this from me."

Guerin shifted uncomfortably for a moment before looking Maria in the eyes. "Okay DeLuca, so, Max, Isobel and I were in the 1947 UFO crash. None of us remember it. We were in pods like this one and we stayed in them for 50 years after the crash until we hatched and wandered out in the desert together as kids."

"And all this time, Max Evans had magical healing powers that can literally raise the dead and both of you knew that I was desperate for something to help my mom, and neither of you said a thing. And now he's gone."

"Maria…" Liz moved to comfort her, but Maria held up her hand to stop her. "I don't want to hear it, Liz. We're talking about  _ my mom _ . This hurts, okay."

"I'm sorry."

Maria turned her attention to Michael. "So what about you? Please tell me that you can help my mom too. Tell me that losing Max wasn't my last shot."

Michael looked at the ground, running a hand raggedly through his curls. Sadness poured from his eyes as they returned to hers.

"I can't do what Max does. I can't help your mom."

"Figures." Maria grumbled. "So what can you do then?"

Michael looked from her, to Rosa, and finally to where Liz stood with Max's cold, silent body behind her.

"How about if I get Max loaded into the back of the truck and leave you alone for a bit. Come out to the cars when you're ready to go."

He narrowed his eyes and Maria gasped as Max's body suddenly floated into the air and towards the cave exit. Michael kept Max's body in front of him and followed it out of the cave.

Once he was gone, the three women studied each other.

"You know, there was a time that I didn't think I'd ever see either of you again," Maria mused. "I was thrilled when Liz finally came home. But this? I never dreamed that the three of us could ever be in the same room again." 

"I know I hurt you, Maria, but… hug?" Liz suggested. 

"Absolutely." Maria agreed, opening her arms and inviting the Ortecho sisters in for a hug. They didn't hesitate, and the women stood there, in the middle of that dark cave, just holding onto each other, both with joy over their reunion, to comfort the pain...pain over Maria’s mom, pain over Rosa’s lost years, and the pain of Liz’s lost love.

  
  



	11. Chapter 11

“It’s not always like this, you know."

"What?" Liz asked, looking up from the pod that she was closely examining. Max was sitting a few feet away in a lawn chair, a book in his hand. He had been reading when Liz walked in and interrupted him, needing some new samples from the pod to continue her efforts at trying to heal Isobel. Since she arrived, he hadn't gone back to the book and had taken to watching her work instead.

"I said it's not always like this," Max repeated. "Since you got home, it seems like it's just been one thing after another. The shooting, the blackout, Wyatt Long, Rosa, and now this thing with Isobel...I just want you to know that I wasn't lying to you that day in the desert when I told you that my life is ordinary."

"I never thought you were lying about that." Liz responded. "I know that you were trying to be as open as possible with me that day. You wanted me to trust you. I get that. But there's one thing that you just got really wrong that day, Max."

"What's that?"

"You're never going to be just another guy from Roswell. You never could be. And not just because of what you are. Because of who you are. You're special, Max. Don't forget that."

Max flushed a bit and looked away, hoping that Liz didn't see. He didn’t really know what to do when she complimented him. It made him feel high like a teenager again with future possibilities laid out before him, even though that nagging voice in the back of his head repeatedly told him not to be stupid, since she didn’t really mean it. _You and I weren’t meant to be together. _With those words, Liz had made her position regarding any potential relationship between them pretty damn clear the day they put Isobel in the pod. He was fooling himself if he kept hoping for a different outcome.

"Liz...why are you working so hard at this?"

"It's my fault that this happened to her." Liz shrugged. "Doesn't it make that my responsibility to fix it?"

"She injected herself." Max reminded her.

"With _ my _ serum." Liz shot back. "A substance that I created for all the wrong reasons." 

"Well, thank you for working so hard on this. I'm grateful."

Liz nodded and gave him a soft smile, before turning back to her task. She silently worked for a few more minutes, taking the samples she was looking for and carefully labeling then, before they disappeared into her bag. Max enjoyed watching. Her focus, determination; the careful, deliberate way she went about her tasks...they all were traits that he remembered from the Liz Ortecho that he loved back in high school, and they had only contributed to making her more incredible a decade later as a woman and as a scientist. 

But the thought of Liz in high school made him pause. Because no matter what Liz had said to him, there was something that still bothered him.

"Liz...can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, of course," she responded, as she placed another sample aside, before turning her full attention back to him.

"I assume that Michael is the one who told you about what Isobel did after Rosa died...you know...sending you away." Liz nodded her confirmation. "How did you accept that so easily? Knowing that they manipulated the course of your entire life?"

"I don't know," Liz admitted. "I know that I should be mad. But it was a long time ago, Max. And I don't have any regrets about that summer."

Max let that sink in for a moment. It still hurt a bit to hear that she didn't regret leaving him behind. The biggest heartbreak of his life was just the start of the rest of her life for Liz. But it always hurts when you're the one left behind, the sadness and longing that comes with abandonment tracks all throughout literary history. From as far back as the Bible, Oedipus, to more modern novels like Frankenstein or Jane Eyre...issues of abandonment are littered throughout some of the greatest novels ever written. There was nothing unique or special about his heartbreak.

"You know I didn't know about it, right? Not back then when they did it, and not even when you first came home. Isobel mistakenly let it slip in front of me on the day that Wyatt Long attacked you at the warehouse. I can't remember ever in my life being as angry as I was when I found out."

"Don't hold on to that anger, Max." Liz recommended. She paused, gathering her thoughts for a moment, before continuing, "You know, I think in a way they probably helped both of us by doing it. Michael told me that you were in a bad place at the time. Traumatized and guilt-ridden over what you did to Rosa. He said you were going to tell me everything and that's why they did it."

Max nodded. "It's true. I even showed up at the Crashdown ready to confess everything."

"And I was saying goodbye to my family. You told me that. The night that you told me the truth about Rosa. I think…" Liz hesitated for a moment, but then gathered her courage and firmly stated, "Even after you told me the truth I was convinced that you could still be lying to me, hiding things from me. It wasn't until Michael admitted all of this to me that I realized that when you decided to come clean you really meant it. You've been an open book with me ever since, haven't you?"

"Yes." Max confirmed, relieved to hear that she knew it. "I hated lying to you, Liz. I never want to have to do that again."

"Listen, Max…" Liz sighed. "I want to be able to make the same promise you're making. But...that's not me. I'm a scientist, Max. I question everything, and I need proof to believe that something is true. Not just with experiments. With myself and my own feelings too. I told you once that I don't trust people...that includes myself sometimes."

Max gave her a half smile. "It's okay, Liz. I know who you are."

She turned back to her work, but as she looked away, Max could swear he heard her murmur under her breath, "Do you, really?"


	12. Chapter 12

"What if I don't see it?"

"Liz…" Max protested, frustrated by her refusal to accept what he was trying to tell her.

"I'm serious, Max. You keep telling me that you're a killer. That you're _ the _ killer of the three of you, but I don't see it. That's not a word I would ever use to describe you."

"You should." Max insisted. "It's an accurate one. I've killed three people in my life, Liz. The guy in the desert that attacked Isobel, a perp I shot that died later from his wounds, and then Noah. Not to mention all the people I've chosen not to save in my life."

"Max, I know you and I both struggle with the burden of responsibility, but it is not your job to save everyone's life."

"Those are the ones that hurt the most though," Max confessed. "The people I could have saved and didn't...they're the ones that haunt me. The three people I directly killed? They were all people that the world is better off without. Especially Noah."

"Then what's the problem, Max? Why are you beating yourself up over it."

Max paused. He was staring at the ground and he wouldn't meet Liz's eyes, which scared her more than anything that they were discussing. What could he be so ashamed to tell her?

Liz placed a hand on his shoulder. "Max, I love you. Nothing you say is going to change that. All I'm trying to do is help you."

"I know," he said, but his voice was distant and disconnected, like he didn’t really believe it. He sounded like a lost little boy and it broke Liz's heart.

"What are you so afraid of?" She asked, as she slid her hand up his shoulder to his neck and pushed on his head slightly to encourage him to look at her. "It's just me, okay?"

He took a deep breath. "I'm afraid that if I tell you the truth, you won't love me anymore." 

"That's ridiculous." Liz stated firmly. "I don't think anything that you say could just make my feelings disappear, Max. You've felt them. You know how strong they are."

He nodded. "Then maybe it will change how you see me, instead of how you feel about me. Maybe you'll stop believing in me blindly and see me a little more realistically. I'm not a good person, Liz." 

She decided not to push him, and waited quietly until he was ready to speak again. The whole time though, while he was collecting his thoughts, she kept her hand on the back of his neck, her fingers gently stroking through the tips of his hair, trying to comfort him.

"The reason I keep telling you that I shouldn't be trusted, that I really am a killer...is because it's not just that I killed Noah. It's that I liked it. It felt good to kill him. That's the part that I'm struggling with. If I liked it, then how can I deny that this is who I am? That this is my nature?"

"What did you like about it?" Liz asked. "Did you like seeing Noah suffering?"

"No." Max replied, thinking carefully about her question. "It wasn't that. I wanted him dead and I was glad to be doing it, but it wasn't that part of it that felt so good. It was like…a rush of power that felt so good, it was like I was high on drugs or something. I'd never felt that good before. It felt like I could do anything, like there were no consequences in the world. And once Noah was dead, the release was over and that power was all just rushing around inside of me. I'd never felt less human than I did in that moment."

Liz thought through his words for a few minutes, letting them sink in. She knew much of what he was describing was chemical. She had spent months studying all of Project Shepherd's alien research and they had very clear conclusions about how killing did seem to increase their strength. But it was one thing to read clinical research notes. It was another thing to listen to Max describe the feeling of it. 

"Max…I think you're being too hard on yourself. It wasn't the act of killing Noah that made you feel so good. It was what the act of killing Noah did to your body's energy and chemistry that made you feel that way. You can't help the way your body functions. The way your body processes killing with your powers is as much an irrepressible biological function for you as eating or drinking or sleeping. You can't help the way it makes you feel. What you can control is your own behavior."

"But that's the problem, Liz. That rush…it felt unreal. I _ want _ to feel it again. _ Badly. _ I crave it now. I'm afraid of what I might do if a situation gets violent and I'm given the opportunity to kill again."

"So we'll work on your mental resiliency. Help you to develop tools to find balance when you feel like you're losing control. Remember after you first healed me? You said that you felt wrong all the time unless you were with me. After you killed Noah, both Michael and Isobel said that you weren't acting like yourself and they were worried about you, but then you came home to me and you seemed fine to me. You were happy."

"You're not with me at work though. You can't be with me all the time."

"True." Liz concurred. " So we're going to have to figure out a way to mimic that feeling of peace that you get when we're together. We need a way for you to find that mental space even when we're not together."

Max nodded. "But Liz...how can you be sure that it's biological? What makes you think that it isn't just me? Michael and Isobel aren't struggling with this. What if it turns out that killing is just my nature?"

Liz sighed. "Max, listen to me. I just spent months with my head buried in alien science. Project Shepherd had 70 years worth of research on your people. Outside of the people with government clearance I probably know more about your race than anyone else on Earth. The studies on what happens when you kill were extremely conclusive. The only reason it hasn't been an issue for Michael and Isobel is because neither of them have ever killed anyone. But out of the three of you, if any one of you had to go through this, I'm glad it's you, Max. Because I believe in your ability to fight through this."


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adult ficlet once again!

They lay there together in Max's bed, the morning light streaming in through his bedroom window, while their bodies recovered from the sheer intensity of their lovemaking. Facing each other, their foreheads nearly touching, they were so close that Liz could feel his heavy breath on her face.

He couldn't seem to stop touching her. Liz didn't mind at all though. His hand cradled her head, his fingers tangling in her hair. She suddenly felt an urge to kiss him again, even though she was still trying to steady her breathing. Liz decided she didn't care though, and leaned closer to capture his lips. As she did so, their noses smushed together a little too hard and she giggled, interrupting the moment, and pulling back from him.

Her laughter seemed disrupted the silence just enough though, that the quiet moment was over, so Liz sat up, leaning her back against his headboard. He stayed lying down, so she gestured for him to scoot a bit so that he could lay his head in her lap. Once he was comfortable, she stroked his head, combing her fingers through his hair.

"I never knew it could be this way," she told him.

"What?" Max asked obtusely. "Sex?"

"Sex…" Liz agreed, "Romance…feelings...just, everything. I've never felt this way before." Max stayed silent, but she could tell she had his rapt attention, so she searched for the words to explain further. 

"I don't want to run away," she continued. "Not from you. And I always want to run away. But right now all I want to do is stay."

"I can feel that," Max murmured. "Through the connection. I can feel a lot of things from you, but fear isn't one of them. It's extraordinary, Liz. You're extraordinary."

Liz leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "Says my alien hero boyfriend with the magic hands," Liz laughed. She slid her hands from Max's head down his shoulders and arms until his hand met hers and their fingers locked. Liz led his right hand up to the spot where his mark would soon appear, and pressed their joined hands over heart for a long moment, before pulling his hand up to her lips for a kiss.

He flipped over as she slid down to lay beneath him. Liz smiled, amazed at how the connection synched them so completely. 

"I love you," he murmured, before leaning down and kissing her, first softly, but it quickly deepened into something hungrier. Liz could feel him hardening again, and she reached down and wrapped her hand around it, stroking him a few times. He gasped, throwing his head back, as he released her lips and let himself just feel the heat for a moment. Liz didn't mind. The connection that he had made earlier was still strong, and the burn of pleasure that she was giving him was echoing through her as well. It was amazing.

"Got another condom?" She murmured. He fumbled to get the protection sorted out, which probably wouldn't have been as awkward if he hadn't insisted on continuing to touch her and kiss her throughout the process. Liz giggled as he dropped it onto her chest, and decided it was time for her to take charge. Giving him a coy smile, she ripped open the package, and rolled it into place. A low groan of relief slipped from him, as he pushed inside her. 

It was slow and soft the second time around. The first time was desperate, needy; in a lot of ways responding to the fear and danger of the night before. It was overwhelming; a tidal wave of emotions from the open connection between them, and what felt like a near endless loop of feeling each other's euphoria in the moment. 

Now, the connection was still there, but had faded to echoes. It was a quieter exchange of physical and emotional feedback as they made love, and they basked in it. It made them feel closely tied without the confusion of the infinite cycle of ecstasy that came with the active connection . This time they just locked eyes and hands and hearts as they moved together through the dance that transcended the boundaries of space and time. 

Because, of course, there were so many ways that they could have not ended up together. Max could have stayed on his planet, or died in the crash. He could have lived a life that started in 1947 instead of 1997. He could have ended up in Caulfield, or another alien detention facility. Only the exact year that he emerged from the pod could have possibly led him to Liz. Any other year during his 50 years in stasis and they may have never met. 

Liz could have never come home. She could have chosen one of a number of other paths rather than returning to Roswell when she did. Max could have not come to see her that night at the Crashdown, or Liz could have decided not to ask him to stay, and then she would have died that night in the shooting. She could have been shot and killed again later at Grant Green's warehouse. 

There were so many ways that the world could have torn them apart, and yet, here they were, happy and together and in love.  That thought crossed Liz's mind as she began to quiver, the waves of pleasure crashing through her. She clung to Max as she rode the wave. She felt him join her, the echoes of his pleasure mixing with hers, and drawing a moan from her throat.

Later, after her heart and breath had steadied, she reflected on her epiphany. She and Max were  _ in love _ . It was a mutual thing. It wasn't just him anymore, and she couldn't hide from it or pretend it wasn't true anymore.

But, then she thought of her sister; her tarnished name and the vandalized roadside memorial. She thought of bullets flying into the Crashdown, and her father getting assaulted. Max did all of that. His decisions caused her family to be in danger, her sister's legacy to be remembered as a drunk and a murderer. Liz had forgiven him, for herself. But she couldn't help feeling guilty, because even though she forgave him, even though she loves him...none of what he did to Rosa could ever be undone.

She suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to talk to her sister. She wanted to confess her feelings to Rosa first, explain herself to her sister. Maybe then she would feel worthy of saying the words back to Max.

He had been dozing next to her while she lay there thinking, and Liz decided that she should wake him up to say goodbye. She leaned over pressed her lips to his, kissing him long and deep, until his lips started to respond, his hands sliding around her to pull her close. 

That was Liz's sign that she needed to pull back so that two times didn't turn into three times. 

"I've gotta go," she murmured as she rolled off of him and out of the bed. She searched the room for where her pants had ended up, and slipped back into them. Next to them were Max's boxer-briefs so she grabbed them and tossed them at him, hitting him right in the face. 

"Put those on," she laughed, before lazily padding out of the room to find where they discarded her tank top by the bookshelves out front. She snagged it and  returned to the bedroom to find Max in his shorts and out from under the covers, but still lounging in bed. 

"I get it. Now that you've had me the mystery is gone." he said, amusement and joy practically exploding from his voice. Liz grinned back at him as she pulled the tank top over her head. "And now you're going to take off, and leave me utterly debauched, and entirely alone!"

"You've got me," Liz shot back, and she couldn't resist climbing back onto the bed and straddling him. "I was just trying to get into your pants. It was the uniform, frankly."

He sat up, looking her in the eye with a soft smile, as she cupped his neck in her hands, and replied with just one word. "Stay," he pleaded.

And for a split second, she really, really wanted to. But then his phone buzzed, knocking them back into reality.


	14. Chapter 14

She slammed her fists down on the lab table, incoherent mutters of frustration intermingled with the occasional curse word in Spanish filled the otherwise empty room. 

"The serum is a bust," she said out loud to herself, "that was my last shot at it and it still didn't work. I'm back to square one."

Her shoulders slumped as she gathered up the remaining samples and cleaned them out, washing down every surface of the lab with bleach, clearing out the evidence of her latest round of experimentation. 

"You look exhausted." She should have been surprised to hear his voice, but for some reason she wasn't. She only paused briefly at the sound of it, and then went back to wiping down the lab surfaces.

"I am exhausted," she replied.

"You look thin too. Are you eating enough?" This time she stayed silent. "Are you sleeping at all?" More silence. "Liz, you have to take care of yourself."

"I can rest when you're here with me," she finally exclaimed, looking up into Max's worried eyes. "Where you belong."

“Liz...I can’t come back.”

"No!" Liz protested angrily. "Don't you dare say that. You brought Rosa back. That means it's possible."

"Possible for me, maybe." He concurred. "But I can do things no one else can do. You're not a god, Liz. You can't bring someone back from the dead using science. It takes more than that. It takes a miracle. And I think we're all out of those."

"No." Liz denied again. "No. I refuse to accept that. I refuse to believe that the universe brought us together only for it to end like this. I refuse to give up on you, Max. I'm gonna keep fighting until I figure this thing out."

"Liz...please take care of yourself. My heart is already so damaged, but it's just gonna keep breaking more if I keep seeing you like this."

"I'll try…" Liz agreed, as she sat down on her lab stool and lay her head on her arms. "I just miss you so much," she mumbled as her eyes grew heavy.

…and just like that she startled herself awake. She stood, looking around the empty lab, where she had been working alone so late that she had apparently fallen asleep. The bottle of bleach was sitting on the table beside her waiting to be used, the lab not yet cleaned.

Liz shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. The dream had felt so real. Probably because she so desperately wanted to see Max's face again. 

What was it he had said in the dream? Something about his damaged heart? She paused, wondering about that specific language for a moment. Not broken heart, not aching heart...damaged. Liz grabbed her notebook and quickly scribbled it down.

Because they wanted to bring him back they hadn't ever done an autopsy on his body. They didn't want to make it even harder by damaging him further. And of course they were trying to keep him out of the hospital and off of the radar of the morgue or the coroner, so they hadn't been able to conduct an MRI or any other type of internal scan on him. They had been limited to the lab, chemistry, surface considerations, and anything that was easy to "borrow" from the hospital.

They were so sure that his death from healing Rosa was an alien power or alien chemistry thing that they had been focusing their research on serums or ways to reenergize him. They never once considered that it might be a physical ailment.

Liz suddenly found herself wondering if there was a chance… She grabbed her phone and sent off a quick text to Michael and Isobel.

_ Can you think of any reason why Max might have been at risk of heart failure or something along those lines? _

It was only a moment or two before she saw the dots indicating that someone was typing back. Liz crossed her fingers and she prayed as she waited for the response. When Michael’s response popped up, it was all that she could do to not shriek with excitement. Her theory was on point.

_ Noah used his powers to give Max a heart attack that night. Why? You got something? _

Liz quickly typed her response.

_ Yes. Meet me at the Crashdown. We need to talk. _


	15. Chapter 15

“No, Michael! You can’t just waltz in here at closing time, grab a drink, and expect that we’re going to...no." Maria shoved him as he leaned in to try to kiss her. "No more. I'm not touching you again until you agree to talk to me.”

"What's there to talk about?" Michael sighed. 

"You, first off. You're a mess." Maria stood and watched him take another swig from the bottle of whiskey with her hands on her hips, before she reached across the bar and tugged it away from him. "Something's wrong, Michael. I can tell. You were finally getting your shit together, and now? It's back to sloppy nights and drunken brawls. You can't honestly pretend like nothing is going on with you."

"Once a shitshow, always a shitshow, DeLuca."

"You know I don't believe that anymore, right?" He didn't respond. Maria sighed and continued. "And we still haven't talked about you and Alex, and that bothers me. A lot. He's my best friend and I need to know if I'm getting myself in the middle of something I don't belong in here."

"Well, maybe you should ask Alex then."

"Alex isn't the one who keeps kissing me." Maria shot back. "And if you’re kissing me while you've got some unresolved feelings for Alex, then you've got some serious explaining to do, Guerin."

"I keep telling you it's over."

"And somehow that just doesn't seem to be the whole story." 

Maria waited to give him a chance to talk, but he stayed silent. He wasn't leaving at least, but he wasn't talking yet. She sighed, and grabbed the bottle of whiskey that she set aside, pouring him a drink and then taking her own share straight from the bottle. A sip of courage before she brought up the hardest question of all.

"And then I want to know about your hand." Her eyes fell to where it lay on the bar, wrapped in a bandana. "You're hiding it now, but I saw it that night." Slowly, gently she reached across the bar to it. She expected him to pull away, but for some reason he didn't. "I know it's healed, Michael." She pulled the bandana off of his hand, revealing his perfect, flawless, uninjured hand. "You're gonna have to tell me sometime how it’s possible that the permanent marks of a decade old injury were miraculously healed."

Michael knocked back the whiskey. Then, with a heavy sigh he met her eyes. Maria almost gasped out loud at the amount of pain that was suddenly exuding from his gaze. "You're not gonna let this go, are you?"

Maria shook her head sadly. "No. Not if you want to maintain any kind of relationship with me." She gave him a little smirk to lighten the moment. "Or my bar. So unless you want to start drinking at Saturn's Rings with the tourists, you'd better start talking!"

Michael stood, turned his back, and walked a few steps away from the bar. For a moment Maria thought that he was going to walk out the door. But then he stopped and dragged a frustrated hand through his hair, before turning back to her.

"You know, I like that you don't know anything about this stuff? It simplifies things. I like just being able to be a normal guy with you. You're the only person left in my life who sees me that way. I don't wanna lose that." She stayed silent, arms crossed, waiting for him to start. His shoulders slumped as he finally gave in. "But I'm gonna lose that no matter what." 

Maria nodded. She as certain that t heir relationship would change from this moment forward. Either Michael was going to be honest with her and they could move forward, or he could walk out of the bar and end it for good.

He took a deep breath, and then started talking. "I was in the 1947 UFO crash. I don't remember it or anything. I was just a kid. But after the crash someone hid us in these stasis pods in an old turquoise mine. 50 years later, in 1997, we woke up and emerged from the pods, and were found wandering naked in the desert. We looked like normal human kids, so no one ever suspected that we're really aliens."

As Michael spoke, Maria felt pain and anger boiling up inside of her. It was one thing to not want to tell her the truth, but to use this? To use the same story, the same elements, as whatever was wrong with her mother? Tears stung her eyes as she interrupted him, trying to stop the lies flowing from him.

"That's not funny, Guerin." She whispered harshly. "If you're going to lie to me you may as well walk out of here and end this right now. You don't need to break me first."

"I'm not lying," he replied gently. "I'm an alien."

"Yeah? And let me guess, Will Smith is the one who found you wandering in the desert and picked up an alien kid on his way to saving the human race?"

"What are you talking about? Will Smith? It was a trucker that found us."

“My mom likes to make up stories about the alien invasion too, but at least she can blame it on mental illness. I don’t even know what to say to you right now.”

Michael suddenly hurried back to the bar to her, his eyes wild with fear and concern. “Listen to me, Maria. I am telling you the truth. We’re aliens. Me, Isobel, and Max.” His voice wavered a bit on Max’s name, but he pushed on. “I can prove it to you. We have powers...we can do things that no human could possibly do. Max’s power is healing. That’s what happened to my hand. He wasn’t himself...he wouldn’t have done it normally, but he was on this crazy power trip and he healed my hand—” Maria cut him off with a firm wave of her hand.

“Stop. Max? Max Evans.” She stated, disbelieving. “An alien. He’s sleeping with Liz!”

“You’ve slept with me,” Michael pointed out. He sighed heavily, sitting back down on his barstool. “Anyway, Max wasn’t himself, like I said. He was doing stupid things, like healing my hand...and other stuff. Anyway, now he’s not sleeping with anyone, Maria, because he’s dead.”

“What?” Maria gasped. “Michael—” This time he was the one who cut her off.

“Can we not? I don’t want to talk about Max right now. I can’t…” he swallowed, and Maria could see his eyes shining with unshed tears. “I could really use another drink right about now.” Maria turned to get their bottle, but before she could, Michael shouted, “WAIT!” 

She turned and looked back to him. “I promised you proof,” he reminded her. And then he held up his hand, narrowed his eyes...and Maria waited for something to happen.

“What the hell?” Michael grumbled, blaring down at his hand like it had betrayed him. He closed his eyes, shook his head and shoulders out, and then returned to the same position, hand out and eyes narrow. Again, there was nothing. This time he stared at his hand in horror and then looked up at Maria, worries. She raised an eyebrow at him. “My powers aren’t working.” 

"Or maybe you're an actual crazy person?"

"I'm not. I swear to you, DeLuca. I'm telling the truth. If you don't believe me, talk to Liz. Or Alex."

" _ They _ both know about this?"

"Actually, go see Liz, Maria. Seriously. She could probably use a friend right now. She's going through a lot."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria slept fitfully that night. She couldn't stop thinking about Michael's crazy talk...or whatever it was. The words sounded insane, but the look in his eyes was so serious. It was like he was pleading with her to believe him. It was that look that drove her to go to the Crashdown for breakfast the next morning.

Liz was working the morning rush, and paused at Maria's table to give her a brief hug hello and pour her a cup of coffee. "I've gotta keep on top of the masses," she quickly told Maria, "but it should slow down in an hour or so and then we can talk."

Maria didn't mind waiting. It gave her a chance to observe her friend for a little while. Liz didn't appear to be in a bad place on the surface. She kept a smile on her face when she spoke to the customers, moved quickly through the motions of waitressing. She looked completely on point.

At least, she did at first, on the surface. The more Maria watched, the more she began to notice cracks in Liz's facade. The smile on her face was a little too wide, like she was trying a little too hard to look like everything was good. But anyone who knew her could see that it didn't really reach her eyes, which looked tired, weary. They were a little red around the edges too. 

Once she saw her friend pause at the jukebox. All of a sudden her shoulders slumped and she looked exhausted, leaning on it like she needed it to hold her up. And for just a split second Liz's face crumpled. Maria almost jumped to her feet to come to her friend's aid, but as quickly as she saw Liz fall apart, she suddenly put herself back together, hit some numbers on the jukebox, and went back to work, Counting Crows blasting from the speakers.

Finally, the tables began to empty and Liz's speed began to slow. She finally turned towards the kitchen to shout, "I'm taking off. You guys got this?" Once she heard confirmation, Lis turned her attention to Maria. "Okay, I'm all yours."

Maria pointed upwards. Liz nodded in agreement and led them up to the Crashdown's roof.

“So what’s going on?” Liz asked. 

“Guerin showed up at the Wild Pony last night. He said a bunch of stuff to me…and it all sounded crazy. Frankly, it was a little scary. He sounded like my mom. I told him I didn’t believe him, and then he tried to prove it and couldn’t. But he swore it was all true and told me that you would confirm it.”

“Maria, What did he tell you?” Liz pressed her carefully. “Specifically.”

“He...he said that he and Max and Isobel are aliens from the 1947 crash. He said that they were, like, asleep in stasis for 50 years and then, like reborn as kids in 1997. He said that Max can heal, and fixed his broken hand. And he said that Max is dead, but that’s crazy, right? Well, all of it’s crazy, but if Max was dead we’d all know about it, right?”

Liz was quiet for a long moment. It looked like she was glaring at her hands, but she kept her eyes down for a long time, while Maria waited. When Liz finally turned to her, Maria realized that her friend was fighting tears.

“Max is dead, and no one really knows. I’ve been covering it up.” Liz confessed. “I put him back into stasis to preserve his body while I try to figure out how to bring him back.”

“How to bring him back?” Maria gaped. “Liz, if he’s dead, he can’t come back. You should understand that better than almost anybody. Are you okay?”

“I know I sound crazy,” Liz insisted. “But I swear I’m not. I just...it was so much easier for Max. His hands could work miracles. I’m only human. I’m exhausted and I’m nowhere near figuring this thing out yet. But I do believe that it’s possible. It has to be possible.”

“What makes you so sure?” Maria asked. 

“Michael didn’t tell you  _ how _ Max died, did he?” Maria ran back through the conversation with Michael in her head, trying to remember. “No… he said that Max wasn’t himself...that he was on a power trip and making dumb choices. It didn’t sound like Max to me though.”

Liz nodded. “It’s probably a fair statement though. He did do something incredibly stupid. He decided to try to heal a dead person and bring them back to life. And it worked, but it killed him. That’s why I’m sure it’s possible, Maria. Because Max did it. So it has to be possible to bring him back too.”

Maria shook her head. “Liz, this all seems so crazy.”

“I know.” Liz agreed. “But it’s true. And I can prove it to you.” Liz’s eyes dropped to Maria’s necklace, and she stared at it thoughtfully. “Maria, were you wearing your necklace last night?”

Maria reached up and felt the familiar glass of her mother’s pendant. “Yeah, of course.”

“Michael tried to prove it to you by using his powers, didn’t he? And it didn’t work?”

“That’s what he said,” Maria confirmed. 

“The flower in your necklace...its pollen has protective properties. Among them, it blocks alien abilities. That’s why Michael couldn’t use his powers last night.”

“You mentioned that you were researching it a while back… this is why?”

“Yeah,” Liz admitted. “There’s a lot you don’t know, Maria. I have a lot to catch you up on. The short version of that story is that the night of the gala, we caught an alien serial killer.”

“ _ WHAT _ !” Maria exclaimed. “Seriously!?!”

“Seriously,” Liz confirmed. “But before we got him, he tried to sabotage us at the gala. He knocked out Max and Michael somehow and locked them in an old fallout shelter with a pile of that pollen inside. So they had no cell reception, couldn’t use their powers, couldn’t get out. After that night I decided it would be a good idea to research that stuff so that we’d know what to do in the future.”

"Sure, but go back to the alien serial killer, because what the hell, Liz!?"

Liz sighed, "No, you're right. That is more important. And actually, it might help me give you the proof you need that this is all true." Maria gestured for Liz to continue. "So...a variety of investigations kind of converged on the realization that we had 14 murders by an alien on our hands in the last decade. The first was Rosa, and there were 13 more since, all targeted at Ranchero Night."

"My Ranchero Night?" Maria gasped. "But that's for charity. It's supposed to be a night for good."

"And one person was taking advantage of that. The people who go to Ranchero Night are also the kind of people that the system are less likely to look into when they die. Easier to hide the death of a homeless man or a prostitute. Or an illegal immigrant." Liz spit out the last words angrily. Maria placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She knew it was a sensitive spot for her friend. Anyone targeting her people tended to light Liz Ortecho on fire. "Sorry." Liz sighed. "I think he was going to target my dad next. That's how I figured out his identity. Max figured it out from you."

"Me?" Maria asked. "God, that night is such a blur for me. I barely can remember a thing."

"Yeah." Liz's voice sounded guilty and Maria looked sharply at her. "What? Tell me."

"He kinda drugged you that night. There was a date rape drug in your champagne. That's why you can't remember anything."

"Me? Why would he drug me?"

"He was trying to keep his identity a secret. But there were enough clues that we knew that he had to be someone close to us. So you were the perfect target to throw off the scent."

"Liz,  _ what did he do to me _ ."

"Just… I'm getting there. He was a lot more powerful than Max, Michael, and Isobel. He could do everything they could do, plus even more. And he had no morals holding him back. He liked to possess humans when they were blacked out and use them as his puppets. So he drugged you so that he could use you to get at me."

"That's...insane." Maria protested.

"At least he didn't use you to murder anyone. He used Isobel to murder Rosa, and he used Wyatt Long to try to kill me at Grant Green's warehouse."

"Well thank goodness for that!" Maria laughed bitterly.

"But I think this might help us prove it to you, Maria. I'll bet if we go over to the UFO Emporium, I can talk them into showing us the security footage from that night. You'll be able to see the difference in your behavior when you were just drugged versus possessed. Let's go!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria was thoroughly impressed by Liz's persuasive skills. A smooth story about a misplaced purse the night of the gala and a promise of a free lunch at the Crashdown, and the pimply teenager working the counter at the emporium led them to a back room with a computer. The kid logged in and pointed Liz to the file folder with the security footage. Liz crossed her heart and promised not to delete anything, and Maria promised to keep Liz in line, and then they were alone.

"That was almost too easy." Maria commented after the kid left.

"Investigating Rosa's death gave me a lot of practice at talking people into telling me things they didn't want to share." Liz explained while scrolling through the video files. "I actually feel a little bad for the kid. I kept looking at him and envisioning little 16-year-old pre-goth Alex. Here we go."

Liz clicked on the video file from the night of the gala and blew it up. The camera was set in one corner of the main ballroom, which gave them an overview look at the main event. Liz watched as people began to arrive for the gala. She saw Maria walk in. Almost immediately one of the caterers walked past her with one last glass of champagne on the tray. He offered it to Maria, who immediately grabbed it and took a sip.

"That must have been how he got you." Liz mused. "He probably mindwarped that caterer into delivering the drugged champagne to you and only you."

Liz skipped ahead a few minutes, and there was the two of them, laughing together after Maria's slip of the tongue. "I should have realized that something was wrong then," Liz chastised herself. "You deserved better."

She skipped ahead again to see Isobel speaking, and then Graham Green. Maria laughed as Liz shuddered and swore under her breath in Spanish. "Hey, I saw his twin brother's murdered body! Cut me some slack!" Liz protested.

Soon after the speeches, the real party was getting going, and Liz spotted Maria dancing sloppily in the middle of the masses. She pointed and raised her eyebrows at Maria.

"I don't look all that put together, do I?" Maria sighed.

"It's not your fault." Liz reminded her. 

They watched as Maria lost her balance and started to fall, but was caught and helped away by Noah Bracken. "My hero." Maria said with a roll of her eyes.

" _ No _ ." Liz stated firmly, hitting pause on the video. "No." She repeated, staring at the screen with a haunted look in her eyes. "He is  _ not _ a hero."

Maria gasped as she suddenly understood what Liz was implying.

"Him? Noah is the serial killer?"

"He was." Liz confirmed. "He's gone now. Max killed him." Maria couldn't help noticing that Liz seemed frozen, her eyes glued to his figure on the video. 

"Liz, are you okay?" 

Her friend just shook her head and hit play again on the video as they watched Noah and Maria leave the ballroom. "Sorry. It's just…he murdered Rosa. And he tried to kill me at least four times that I know of. Somehow I kept surviving him, but I feel lucky that I did. The last time I saw him, he literally stabbed me in the gut with a kitchen knife." 

Liz paused the video again and pulled up the bottom of her shirt to show Maria the wound that was still healing on her stomach. "Kyle pulled the stitches out a few days ago, but he says I'm gonna have a hell of a scar."

"So you said four attempts. This stab wound is one, and Grant Green's warehouse was two...what were the other two times?" Maria carefully asked.

"The hospital shooting...although I'm not actually sure he was trying to kill me that time...it might have just been a diversion to access and destroy my research. And then…" Liz nodded at the computer.

"He tried to kill you at the gala?"

"Once his cover was blown, Max and I tried to stop him from escaping. He tried to fry me with his powers, but I had injected him with a serum I created that blocked his powers and it kicked in just in time."

Liz hit play again. "We should see something soon here." They watched and waited, until a few minutes later, Maria casually sauntered out from the hallway that Noah had taken her down. Her eyes were clear and wide, a smug smile on her face, and there was zero sign of the date rape drug in her system as she made her way through the room, casting flirty smiles at both men and women she passed, occasionally slipping a stray hand to caress a passerby. 

"God, it's like I'm a totally different person," Maria gasped. "That's not me."

"I know," Liz agreed. “That’s what I’m talking about. It was so obvious to me that night."

"What am I doing, d'ya think?"

"I'm pretty sure you're looking for me," Liz guessed. "That serum I just mentioned? Most of it was destroyed in the hospital shooting, except for one last dose. Noah wanted to get his hands on it so that it couldn't be used against him." 

They watched as Maria left the ballroom. "You found me in the ladies room. I left my purse with you while I did my business, and you went through it and stole a decoy serum that I had stashed there and then left without saying goodbye."

After a few minutes, Maria reentered the ballroom and crossed the room again. This time she was all business and no games, with her task complete. She disappeared down the same hallway as before, and then a moment later, Noah emerged. 

"Ugh," Liz groaned at the sight of him, literally twirling the syringe between his fingers before he slipped it into the inside pocket of his tuxedo jacket. "He thought he had won." 

He wandered into the ballroom, looked around for a moment, and then approached Arturo Ortecho with a friendly handshake before starting a conversation with him. Noah then led Arturo to a table, got them both drinks, and started talking emphatically at Liz's father. 

"I can't." Liz cried out, skipping the video ahead. "I just can't watch him manipulate my Papi."

Liz skipped the video ahead a few more minutes, but nothing relevant seemed to be happening...until suddenly, about 20 minutes further into the footage, she froze and let the video play. Maria could sense the tension and pain building in Liz at the sight of her and Max walking out onto the dance floor together in the video. A noise escaped from Liz's throat that sounded almost like a whimper of pain. Maria could tell that her friend was trying, and failing, to fight the tears that were coming. She slid an arm over Liz's shoulder, and covered the hand that Liz had slid off of the mouse and onto the desk with her own hand for comfort. "I've got you," Maria murmured, and just like that, the tears began to flow down Liz's cheeks.

It was clear that Max and Liz were having a conversation as they danced, because the dancing slowed as their body language grew more intense. Then, Liz pulled Max into a kiss, before they separated and Liz turned to dance with her father.

"Well, you're too small for me to see on that camera, but by the looks of it, you certainly smeared your armor all over Max that night after all, huh?"

The comment tricked a laugh out of Liz, and soon they were just holding each other, laughing and crying. 

"Okay, so you've convinced me," Maria finally said between laughs. "How about we get out of here? I guess I'll owe Guerin an apology."

"He means well," Liz told her, "but he's pretty messed up about losing Max...and something else too. Kyle has implied some things to me but refuses to go into detail. He just says something happened to Michael on this trip they took with Alex, but that's all he'll say."

Liz closed the video program and hit the log out button on the computer, and then the two friends headed for the exit, waving goodbye to the kid at the counter on their way out.

As they headed back towards the Crashdown, Liz turned to Maria and asked, "So was that enough surprises for one day, or could you handle one more?"

"Why not," Maria said with a laugh as she threw her hands in the air. "Go ahead and blow my mind some more, Liz."

"Do you have time to take a drive before work?"

Maria glanced at her phone. "Yeah, I can spare another couple hours."

"Great," Liz said with a smile. "Because - and I'm really surprised you didn't push this one earlier - I did tell you that Max succeeded in resurrecting someone."

"Yeah…" Maria replied curiously.

"Well, Rosa would love to see you."

Maria stopped dead in her tracks, staring at her friend, as Liz laughed, while leading Maria towards her car.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That night, just like the night before, Michael walked into the Wild Pony right at closing time, black cowboy hat in his hands, as he walked slowly up to the bar.

He looked uncertain, like he didn't know what he was walking into and he didn't know if he should leave. His whole body was tense, like he was just waiting for a sign from her on what would happen next. 

Maria looked him up and down, and shook her head with a half smile. She grabbed two glasses, and their special bottle of whiskey from under the counter, and poured them each a couple fingers of it. She slid one across the bar to him, and raised her glass to him.

"_Salud_." They clinked glasses lightly and each took a sip.

Maria leaned forward, elbows on the bar surface, chin in her hands. 

"Soooo," she started. "I hear you're an alien."

  
  



	16. Chapter 16

"Listen. No really, listen." Rosa pleaded with a laugh. She pulled her little sister back into their bedroom and closed the door, leaning her back against it and dramatically blocking her sister from leaving.

"Rosaaaaa," Liz whined, "I'm going to be late."

"I don't care if you're going to be late. I'm your big sister and you are going to listen to me before you go. _ Toma mi consejo _, Elizabeth!"

Liz's shoulders dropped as she groaned. "Fiiiiine."

"Let me get a look at you." Rosa directed. "Take a spin!"

Rosa grinned. She knew her sister wouldn't be able to resist that. Dramatically, Liz raised her hands over her head like a prima ballerina, and spun in a circle, the skirt of her dress flowing widely around her. Liz giggled as she came to a stop. 

"_Bella chica_!" Rosa exclaimed. 

With a critical eye, she appraised her sister from head to toe. The purple tea length dress was a little too modest for Rosa's liking, but considering that it was fall semester of freshman year, it was probably appropriate for Liz. She would have preferred her sister to let her hair down for her first high school dance, but of course Liz had it pulled back into a high ponytail instead. At least she had some wispy tendrils in front that she had curled to make the look a little more feminine. Makeup was light, but acceptable for her baby sister at this age. Shoes were reasonable, black ballet-style flats that looked cute but wouldn't destroy her feet by the end of the night. Overall, for her freshman year homecoming dance? Little Lizzie Ortecho did pretty good, Rosa determined.

"Okay, I approve. You look adorable. So which boys are you planning to drive crazy tonight?"

"Oh! Um…" Liz blushed. "Well that's not really on my agenda for the evening."

"Come on…" Rosa pushed. "There must be someone."

"I don't know. I'm going in a group with Alex and Maria as friends. We invited Kyle too, but he said he has to do a thing with the football team."

"Interesting." Rosa mused out loud.

"Welllll…"

"Spill, Liz." Rosa ordered.

"Kyle asked me to go with him. As his date. With the group from the football team. I turned him down since I already made plans with Alex and Maria. But I did promise him a dance."

"Did you _ want _ to go with Kyle?" Rosa pressed.

"Not particularly," Liz admitted. "Not if he was going with all those jocks. Maybe if he came with our group. But I don't belong with those guys."

"_ Es una decisión excelente _ !" Rosa told her. "Listen to me Liz. I know I'm not that much older than you, and I’m still figuring boys out too, but I’ve realized this much already -- pick a guy that knows you. The real you. Kyle is _ un idiota _ if he thought you'd have any fun with those jocks. He was thinking about himself. You want a date who will think about _you_."

"Kyle's not that bad," Liz protested. 

Rosa just rolled her eyes at Liz. "Was Kyle the only guy that asked you to the dance?"

"Yeah," Liz confirmed. "Why?"

"Hmm." Rosa pondered. "I'm surprised."

"Talk, Rosa!" This time Liz was the one getting pushy.

"No, it's not that big of a deal or anything," Rosa insisted. "I'm just surprised that Max Evans didn't ask you."

"Max?" Liz asked. "Why would Max ask me?"

"Oh Liz…" Rosa laughed. "Now you're the idiot."

Rosa finally moved out of Liz's path and opened the door to allow her to leave. "Have fun tonight, _ hermanita _!"

"You're not going to go?" Liz asked as she gathered her things and walked from the room.

"Come on, Liz. You know high school dances aren't my scene. I figured that out _ my _ freshman year. But I hope you have a blast."

"Okay. See you later!" And with that, Liz bounded downstairs to meet her friends in the restaurant. 

Rosa, on the other hand, flopped down on her bed, drawing pad and pens in hand, and flipped on some music. A quiet Saturday night was just what she needed...at least to pass the time until she could sneak out later to meet Frederico in the desert.  



	17. Chapter 17

"Okay, Liz. Spill."

"Huh?" Liz asked guiltily, as she snapped her attention back to Maria. 

"Did you even hear a word that I said?" Maria demanded to know, and Liz flushed, embarrassed at being caught rudely ignoring her friend's story.

"Sorry, I got distracted." Liz apologized. "Start again, I'm listening."

Maria sighed, smiled, and shook her head at Liz. "Nah, there's no point. And I think whatever’s going on in your head is gonna be a lot more interesting. So again, I say: Spill, Liz. Why are you staring at Max Evans."

Liz blushed again. "Oh God, was it that obvious?" 

"Yeah! For me it was! I doubt anyone else was paying attention though."

"Good," Liz murmured, glancing over to where he was eating lunch with Michael on the opposite side of the courtyard again. He looked up at the same time, and their eyes met for a split second, only a second, but there was a charge to it. Liz quickly looked away and returned her focus to Maria.

"Something changed. That guy has been in love with you for as long as I can remember. We're about to graduate from high school and you're about to abandon your best friend for a life of adventure and education, and yet, all of a sudden now, you're staring back at Max. What did I miss, Liz?"

"Don't exaggerate, Maria. Max isn't in love with me. We're just friends."

"Oh Liz, keep lying to yourself," Maria laughed.

"I’m not!” Liz protested. “I really don't know what Max feels. He’s never, I dunno, tried to be more than friends. But...we had a moment."

"Ooh, a moment?" Maria asked with an overdramatic, suggestive raise of her eyebrows. "Tell me more!"

Liz laughed. "It wasn't like that, Maria...it was just, you know, prom night. That night was so awful, with my mom, and Kyle, and everything...afterwards Max was the one who was there to comfort me. By the time you got there I was doing so much better thanks to him."

"Details, Liz!"

"He just held me while I cried all over him, he listened, and then he made me laugh when I was feeling miserable. I don't know...it doesn't sound exciting when I say it out loud, but there is just something about him. There was a connection. And now I can’t stop thinking about him. I just kinda wonder…" Liz drifted off, not sure if she wanted to say what she was thinking out loud. Her eyes wandered across the quad again to Max and she watched him for a moment, laughing at whatever Michael was saying. Was she crazy for thinking this way?

"You wonder what, Liz?" Maria whined impatiently.

"Well, Michael interrupted us and dragged Max off. But I can't help wondering if he hadn't, maybe would Max have kissed me? It felt like that kind of a moment."

Maria cackled, "When did you dump Kyle? An hour earlier? Maybe? Moving on a little quickly, aren’t we?”

Liz bit her lip and shook her head. "You're right. It's crazy to even think that way. Max is too good a guy to do something like that."

"Definitely," Maria concurred. "But it's been a few weeks now. Maybe it's time?"

"Maybe," Liz pondered. She glanced over again, only to see Max unwrapping a sandwich from his lunch bag and passing half of it over to Michael. She smiled softly. Max was just so  _ good _ . Of course he would have waited to kiss her. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A week later, Liz was fuming from her fight with Rosa when Max walked up and awkwardly offered to drive her to the desert for the Bio project.

She thought about her sister, who infuriated her, but also always accused her of playing it too safe. She thought about Maria, who was convinced that she and Max should give dating a try. And then she thought about that moment between them after prom, and how comforting it was to sit there in the gazebo with his arm around her.

"Forget the Bio project," she decided with a smile and a shake of her head. "Let's go on an adventure!"

  
  



	18. Chapter 18

It was starting to get ridiculous.

Maria couldn't deny that she had noticed it a little bit over the past few months since Liz got back into town. It's hard not to notice when your friends suddenly fall silent when you walk up to their table at the bar. Or a totally awkward but obvious change of subject when you unexpectedly enter a room. Her friends were not as subtle as they thought they were. But Maria liked to be the fun friend and there was very little that she hated more than drama. So when these things happened, she laughed it off in front of them, and tried to let it slide off of her shoulders. She figured at some point things would either come to a head, or get better.

And then they did, sort of.

A week earlier, Michael had come clean to her about everything. He admitted to her that he was an alien, he told her about Max dying to bring Rosa back to life, his healed hand, the pods, Project Shepherd, Noah...everything. And holy hell that was a lot of drama. Maria knew she was in the dark about  _ something _ , but she had no idea how big of a something it was!

The thing about secrets is...when there's a new person in the know, it throws off the whole situation. There's an adjustment period. But that adjustment period can't even start unless everyone knows that someone new is in on things.

From the edge of this whole alien cowboy drama affair, it appeared that there was some unaddressed lingering drama. Michael had closed himself off from the group and it seemed that he never bothered to tell anyone that he had let Maria in on their secrets.

Which is why, on a particularly quiet Wednesday evening at the Wild Pony, Maria stood behind the bar, wiping the empty counter down and watching the booth a few feet away, where Liz and Kyle sat beside each other on one side of the table opposite Alex. The three of them had their heads together and were talking quickly and quietly amongst themselves. And Maria was quite sure she knew what they were talking about. A surgeon, a biomedical researcher, and a guy with access to it the most comprehensive archive of alien science on earth? They were trying to figure out how to bring Max back.

The hard part was how to get them to admit it to her.

Maria watched them for a little while until she decided that they were way too caught up in whatever they were discussing to notice what she was doing. She grabbed a bottle of tequila and four shot glasses, and casually wandered the long way around the room, so that she could approach them, hopefully unnoticed, from the opposite side of their booth. 

Her strategy worked. As she walked up, she overheard Kyle growl out. "...a total wild card. How long do you honestly believe she'll let us keep this a secret?"

“Secrets? I love secrets!” Maria called out as she leaned over the wall abutting their booth, waving the tequila bottle in front of them. "How about I pour you some shots and you tell your good friend Maria about alllll your secrets, huh?"

She pretended not to see the panicked looks that her friend were quickly trying to hide, but internally, Maria was cackling with amusement as she set down the four shot glasses on the ledge of the wall above them and poured the shots. She passed the glasses down to them and then gestured for them to wait as she hurried around the barrier and slid into the booth next to Alex.

"How about we drink to lifelong friendship staying strong through all these years," Kyle suggested.

"Ugggh," Liz groaned. "Cheesy."

"I know," Maria tossed out to the table. "Why don't we drink to lost friends' returns; those that we are lucky enough to have here with us now, and those that we're still waiting for...those yet to come."

There was a long moment of silence. Maria had to work hard to keep a smile off of her face as she could feel Alex fidgeting a bit beside her. Liz was staring sadly at her tequila. Kyle's eyes were glued to the ceiling for some reason. It was Alex who finally broke the silence though.

"To lost friends' return," he concurred softly, as he held up his shot. Kyle echoed him, so that only Liz remained silent. She raised her glass anyway though, and looked up, teary eyes meeting Maria's as she finally croaked out, "lost friends' return," just as a tear trailed down her cheek.

Maria reached across the table and took Liz's hand, squeezing it tightly. She gave her a comforting smile, that she hoped Liz could still read after all these years.  _ I've got you babe. I'm here if you need me.  _ Maria pushed the supportive thoughts in Liz's direction. Internally, she pleaded that Liz didn't need to be psychic to hear her and to understand.

She waited a moment at the table to see if someone, anyone, would start a conversation. Once it was clear that they were going to stick with the totally obvious awkward silence thing, Maria chuckled and pushed herself to her feet.

"All right, I'll let you guys work. I don't want to be the one to blame if y'all don't figure out how to raise Max from the dead. Just do me a favor and let me know when I'm allowed to see Rosa, okay?"

And without waiting for their reactions, Maria turned her back on her friends and sauntered back to the bar, tequila bottle in hand. She had gone maybe five steps when she heard her three friends all start talking at once, frantic, shocked voices that all didn't seem to know how to react at once. 

Maria cackled as she slipped behind the bar and returned the tequila bottle to the shelf. It was a little too much fun to take them by surprise like that. 

And she didn't even have to mention aliens.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, this one isn’t my favorite of the set, but I had very limited time this morning to write, sooo... it is what it is. *shrugs* I guess with speed writing they can’t allllll be ok.

"Max, I need to talk to you about something."

Liz's voice was so serious that he tensed up, worried that something was wrong.

"What is it?" He asked, trying to keep his voice casual. It was a lost cause though. That's the thing about being wrapped up in bed, their bodies pressed together, her head against his chest...she could feel his physical reaction. Which is why she rolled over to face him, so that she could look him in the eyes.

"I don't think it's a bad thing. Hopefully. I just want to talk to you about you for a bit, Max." She reached up and stroked his cheek, her thumb gently rubbing through the stubble on his jawline. He smiled softly at her and waited for her to continue.

"It's just… I worry about you sometimes, Max." He opened his mouth to protest, but she pushed a finger to his lips to hush him. " _ Not _ as a cop. I worry about how you treat yourself. I worry that you have too negative a mentality about yourself. And most of all, I worry that you don't put a high enough value on your own life."

Max narrowed his eyes, confused by what she was saying. "Liz, I'm really happy right now. The happiest I've ever been. I have you.”

"But that's just it," she tried to explain. "Your happiness and self-worth shouldn’t be tied to me or anybody else! You should be able to be happy because, I don't know… because life! Not because I'm here."

Liz bit her lip and studied his face for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. Max loved it when she did that. It made him want to drop everything, no matter what they were doing or where they were, and kiss those lips until they both were completely out of breath. He restrained himself though. He had a feeling that interrupting this conversation with kisses wouldn't go over too well.

"Remember when you healed me?" Liz asked. "And I wanted to kiss you so badly, but you wouldn't let me?"

"Of course," Max confirmed, wondering where she was going with this. And wishing she hadn’t mentioned kisses, when he was still distracted by her lips. 

"I had a little too much time to reflect on things while you were…" Liz closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Dead." Max finished the thought for her so that she wouldn't have to. She opened her eyes and gave him a grateful nod. 

"Yeah, that. And something that was really raw and fresh for me was the feeling of being connected with you. You know, because of the last time we saw each other before…" she trailed off again and it made Max wince. He hated how much the impact of his death had left a scar on her heart. She had his full concentration now. He wanted to do whatever he had to do to make up for the excessive pain that he caused her.

"But even though it felt so good to connect with you when we made love, it was contrasted with how strongly I felt it when…when you died."

"I'm sorry." Max whispered, his heart aching. "I hate that I did that to you."

"But that's the thing, Max...I felt all of that and I knew what was coming from me and what was coming from you. But back when you healed me, you were so certain that there was no  _ possible _ way that I could ever return your feelings, that you just  _ decided _ that it had to be the connection influencing my feelings. You had yourself believing that I only wanted to kiss you because I felt how much you wanted to kiss me."

"And I was right," Max reminded her. "The feelings faded with the handprint, remember?" He remembered standing there in the sunrise in front of the old turquoise mine feeling like a complete fool for even hoping for a moment that it might be for real. As the memory of the heartbreak began to wash over him, it was interrupted just as quickly by a chuckle from Liz. "What?" He asked.

"I just can't believe we haven't talked about this yet. I guess things have been a little too crazy to really backtrack and reflect on everything that happened before..." Liz sighed. "Oh Max, I’m sorry, but I was lying that day."

"You...what…?" 

"I was lying that morning when I told you that the feelings faded with the handprint. The night before is when I got my hands on Rosa's autopsy and first saw the photo of the handprint on her. I was angry and scared and so I lied to you. And to myself for a while too, if I’m gonna be honest about it. I didn't want to admit that I was in love with you."

Max just stared at her, speechless, as he tried to absorb what she was saying.

"But that's not the point, Max. The point is that we were connected, and you should have been able to feel what I felt for you.  _ And _ you should have been able to tell that it was real. You held yourself back, because either you didn't think I could ever possibly have real feelings for you, or you didn't feel like you  _ deserved _ my love. Regardless, neither of those things were true, and both of them were holding you back."

“I thought I was doing the right thing.”

“But you weren’t listening to me when I told you that my feelings were real.”

Max reflected on her statement. It’s true that he didn’t believe her when she said it back then. She had been so firm, so certain that she felt something for him after the shooting, he couldn’t quite believe it. It didn’t match up with a decade of telling himself that he was so insignificant to her that he didn’t even deserve a goodbye when she left town. So when she told him that the feelings faded, that seemed more in line with reality than the idea that her feelings might be real. 

"Yes, I admit it. You were right." Max offered. “I should have listened to you. And you’re right now. I didn’t listen because I didn’t believe you could possibly love me back.” He reached over to her and sought out her hand, locking fingers with hers and pulling her hand up for a soft kiss. “You already know that I’ve loved you all my life. And now we know that when you left town after high school, you left so suddenly with a little extra push from my sister. But I guess what you maybe don’t know is how much that screwed me up.”

“I was all in, Liz. I wanted to go with you on that road trip, and I am not kidding when I say I would have followed you anywhere. What happened with Rosa definitely complicated things...but I still wanted to make it work. And then when you left without saying goodbye, it was like my entire world came crashing down around me. I was in a bad place, Liz. For a pretty long time.”

“I’m sorry, Max. I hate to think of you hurting like that.” 

“I think I’m starting to do better,” Max told her hopefully. “I think learning the truth has helped me come to terms with that. And I'm working on the whole deserving your love thing."

Liz nodded. "Okay. But the other side of this is valuing yourself. You keep throwing your life on the line and it makes me crazy. Going after the shooter alone at the hospital?"

"I was doing my job."

"No, you weren't, and don't tell me it doesn't matter since you got him and you're fine. You need to stop hiding behind those excuses, Max. You broke protocol, it was unsafe, you're lucky you weren't killed. Even Cam agrees with me on this, Max, and she had the same training as you."

"Look, I'm not trying to beat up on you, Max. I just want to know that you're going to be okay. In the year that I've been home, I could probably count the days that you haven't been injured, bruised up, or, you know...actually dead. I want you to be safe, and healthy, and happy, okay?"

Her voice made it clear that the conversation was over, and she emphasized it by sitting up, and climbing over him to to straddle his hips, her knees hugging his waist. She leaned down, her long hair forming a curtain around their faces as she kissed him. 

"I love you." She murmured against his lips. "And I'm planning on keeping you around for a very long time. So I need you to do your share of this, got it?"

He wasn't about to argue.

  
  



	20. Chapter 20

1.

It was nearly midnight when the light knock on the front door of Max's house pulled Liz's attention from her reading. She groaned, frustrated by the interruption, but there was no one else to answer the door. Isobel had gone home, and Rosa went to bed at least an hour earlier. Michael was probably picking a fight with some rednecks at the Wild Pony. He seemed to prefer bruised knuckles over actually doing anything useful these days. It made Liz want to strangle him...except she didn't have the time or patience to fix him too right now.

She didn't even try to hide her irritation when she opened the door to let Kyle in. It was clear that he had come straight from work. He was still wearing his surgical scrubs, although he had at least ditched his white coat.

"What is it?" Liz demanded. "I'm busy going through the Project Shepherd files."

"You find anything?"

"Not yet."

"You want help?"

Liz sighed. "I mean…you can backcheck me if you want. Make sure I didn't skip over something important. But I want to see every page of this myself. I don't want to risk missing out on a single clue that could be the key to bringing Max back."

She turned and went back to the couch, hoping that Kyle would take the hint that she wanted to work, not talk. Of course, he didn't, which just increased her frustration.

"Liz, how long has it been since you slept?"

"I'm fine, Kyle. I just need answers."

"Have you eaten?"

"Yeah," Liz replied, distracted as she opened the next file and started reading. "There's leftover pizza in the fridge if you want some."

"I'm worried about you. You're not going to do Max any good if you destroy yourself on the path to healing him. He wouldn't want that, Liz."

Liz froze, a sharp pain rising in her gut, and before she could even fight it, tears were falling from her eyes. The file folder she was reading slid from her lap, forgotten, as she stood and began pacing around the room, trying to calm herself down. It was impossible though. It was Max's house. Everywhere she looked, everything she saw, reminded her of him. 

It was like she was surrounded by all of the best parts of him...his books, so many books, which were like his incredible mind and imagination. There, in a corner, sat his white cowboy hat, part of his uniform. It was like a symbol of his honor and his dedication to working hard to do the right thing, to make up for the scars that haunted his soul. In a corner was a small framed family photo...loyalty, love.

Liz dropped down on the bench in front of his bookshelf, now openly weeping, while glaring at her hands. Her stupid, useless, human hands. Max's hands were like magic...gentle when they touched her, electric with passion and the literal energy from his powers. His hands worked miracles. They were weathered and calloused and absolutely perfect. She loved his hands.

Her hands were soft. Weak. Ordinary. Human. Her hands could flip pages of a file, or mix chemicals in a lab, but they couldn't wake the dead. 

They couldn't save him.

An incoherent moan of agony escaped from her lungs as she just sat and fell apart. But within moments, her useless hands were encompassed by larger, warmer ones.

"It's okay to fall apart," Kyle murmured. "Just let it out, Liz. It's okay."

"No," Liz cried. "It's not okay. Nothing is okay. I need to keep it together."

“You could talk about it, you know?” Kyle suggested. "It might help you cope if you stop bottling everything up inside. I can listen, you know, if you want me to."

Liz sniffled and wiped her eyes, looking down at Kyle, who was kneeling in front of her. 

"It's just...the pressure is getting to me and I feel like I'm all on my own here. Michael's a mess and Isobel's got her own shit to deal with. I feel like it's all on me, and I don't have any superpowers. I'm just...human. And sometimes I'm just so pissed off at Max for putting me in this position. But then, when I see Rosa's face or hear her voice, I'm so happy to have her back. It's so complicated and hard to reconcile this incredible pain and incredible happiness all mixed up together."

Kyle nodded and gestured for her to keep talking. And the floodgates opened.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

2.

The future was kind of weird.

And really, was it even the future, if it was also the present? These were the kinds of complex questions that would get caught in Rosa's mind, cycling around and around like a hamster on a wheel, until she gave herself a headache and felt like she was going crazy.

The world was full of contradictions now. She lived in both the future and the present. She was both Liz's big sister and younger sister. Izzy both was and wasn't her murderer. Papi both was and wasn't her father. 

Some days it all made her so dizzy that she just wanted to lock herself in a dark room and hide out. No stimulation at all. Strange how her brain craved that now. Did it have something to do with being a former dead person? Is that what death is like?

At least it was better than what she used to do when she got overwhelmed. Back in the day she would have drunk herself into a stupor, maybe gotten high, and then released her frustration through some good ol’ fashioned vandalism.

Well, the vandalism part, at least, she still had a taste for. She always wanted to try to get a little tagging in on the rare occasions when she could convince someone to let her leave the house. Somehow though, they always managed to figure out what she was up to when she tried to sneak away. Everyone was so afraid that she'd be seen, and no one had quite figured out how to explain to the town how Rosa Ortecho had been resurrected from her grave.

So the night that she dug out a hoodie large enough to hide her face, and snuck out late at night to wander the town and maybe leave some street art in a few key locations, she knew that if anyone noticed she was gone, she'd be in deep shit. But she didn't really care.

It was freeing, walking alone, breathing the cool, fresh night air. On the edge of town, she couldn't resist leaving her classic UFO graphic on the backside of a convenience store that she used to be able to count on to never card her. But she knew that her old art would leave too many clues for people to find her, and she had already developed a new graphic to spread her fingerprints all over this town. 

A ghost. 

She left a ghost on the back wall of the Crashdown, and one on the side of the J.P. Wright building. She placed her mark on the Mexican restaurant and the high school.

Her mistake was when she was working on the dumpster behind the Wild Pony.

"Hey!" An angry and familiar voice shouted. "Maybe you could lay off the vandalism on my property. I can get Deputy Evans over here in a flash to arrest you."

Rosa froze. She had been begging to go see Maria, but Liz refused. No one could know, she kept saying. Not even Maria. The less people who knew, the safer she'd be. Maybe deep down, that was the point of this whole rebellious excursion. Maybe she just wanted to get caught, right here, right now, by her former best friend. 

Liz was going to kill her. 

"You can call Max all you want. I guarantee he's not coming to arrest me. He's not doing much of anything these days " 

Slowly, she turned around, keeping her head low so that the hood continued to block her face. 

"What are you talking about?" Maria demanded to know.

Rosa lifted her head and locked eyes with her best friend. "You really are out of the loop, aren't you? I knew there had to be a reason that Liz wouldn't let me see you, but I didn't realize that you didn't know anything at all."

Maria dropped the bag of trash in her hands and took a step backwards, fear and shock emanating from her.

"Rosa?" 

"Hola!" Rosa greeted her with a wiggle of her slightly paint-stained fingers. 

"I don't understand. How is this possible?" 

"Liz said the same thing when she first saw me, and she at least knew enough to put the pieces together. The short version is that I died. And then Max Evans decided that Liz was better off having me in her life than him, and now I'm alive and he isn't."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rosa followed Maria into the Wild Pony where they spent about an hour talking and catching up on Maria's life while Maria finished cleaning up the bar for the evening. Once she was done, Maria led Rosa out to her truck and drove her back out to Max's house.

Liz was pacing the house, frantic with worry when they walked in. She gaped at the sight of Maria with her sister for a moment, before starting to unload about how upset she was all over Rosa. But right when she was getting to her rant about how irresponsible Rosa was, Maria held up a hand to silence Liz, who immediately complied.

"Liz, do you know what Rosa was doing when I found her?". Liz shook her head. "She was painting a ghost onto the dumpster at the Wild Pony. From what she told me, she left ghosts all over town. Why do you think that is, Liz?"

Liz sat down, head in her hands. "Because that's what Rosa feels like. Because she's not really living. Because I'm keeping her on lockdown."

"Sure." Maria agreed. "That's part of it. But I don't think that's all of it. Rosa died, Liz. She was dead for 10 years. And now she's not. That's got to be a hell of a weird transition."

Rosa nodded. "I don't even know if I belong here anymore. And I can't find out if I'm locked in all the time."

Liz looked at her sister thoughtfully. "You know, someone pointed something out to me recently. It's really simple, but it is so logical and it helped so much. And I'm not sure it would have worked if he hadn't said it to me." Liz paused and smiled up at her sister. "You could talk about it, you know? I'm here to listen. And if you don't want to talk to me, you can always talk to Maria, or Kyle. Whoever."

"I know that, Liz," Rosa promised. "Just give me some time.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

3.

"You know, we might be the only two people on earth that have died, and been raised from the dead. We're like, a crazy social experiment with unknown consequences that has never happened before and might never happen again."

"You're right," Max chuckled, giving Rosa a wry smile. "It's one thing we'll always have in common at least."

"My sister should put that science nerd brain of hers to work and, like, document this shit. Write a research paper or whatever on us. I mean, obviously she can't publish it or anything, but at least she could, like, bury it in a time capsule so that at the end of the world or something, someone will know that this crazy thing happened."

"There's just one problem." Max mused. "There's no control for comparison. And human to alien can't be compared like apples to apples."

"Point." Rosa agreed. They fell silent for a moment, but suddenly Rosa's eyes widened as a solution popped into her brain. "Well then, maybe instead of Liz documenting it as science, you should use your book nerd brain and write it down as if it were fiction!"

"Hmm…" Max pondered. "Not the worst idea."

"Maybe it would help you…" Rosa suggested carefully. "You know, with the nightmares."

Max's eyes shot up to meet hers. "Liz told you about…"

"Yeah, sorry." Rosa admitted. "She's worried, Max."

"There's nothing she can do." Max argued. "She's with me. She's comforting me when I wake up. She's...she's doing plenty, Rosa. This is my problem to work through."

“You could talk about it, you know?” 

"What?"

"It doesn't have to be with Liz," Rosa reminded him. "You could talk to one of your siblings if you want. Hell, you could talk to me, if you want Max...the only other person in this world that somewhat understands what you've been through."

Max found himself wondering why they hadn't talked about it yet. He and Rosa did have a shared experience of sorts, and yet it had been a month since he woke up, and yet, never once had they talked about their deaths and ressurections. Of course, they also rarely spent time alone together like this.

"What was it like for you?" He asked her gently.

Rosa looked at him thoughtfully for a long moment before replying. "It was like time travel." She explained. "One minute it was 2008 and the next minute it was 2018. All of you were suddenly older than me. Technology has changed. And I was a living ghost."

"No, that's not what I meant." Max clarified. "Not the adjustment period. What was it like for you when you were dead?"

She searched his face, a worried expression in her eyes. "That doesn't change my answer, Max. It was like a snap for me. I was in that cave arguing with Izzy...Noah...whoever…and then all of a sudden you were dead next to me. The ten years I was dead? It was just...nothing."

Her answer shocked him, but he was grateful to hear it. It was easier that way. Easier for her to adjust, to live a life now. She was lucky.

"Max, please...tell me that it was the same for you." Rosa begged.

"I wish I could do that." He admitted apologetically, "But I can't. I mean, there was nothing for me too. No light, no feelings, no sound...but the one thing that was there was time. I felt every minute, every day that I was dead. It was like suffering in a lonely, empty, dark world with the absolute certainty that this was going to be the rest of your existence. Waiting alone for anything to break the never-ending monotony. I don't think I've ever been so relieved in my life as I was when Liz pulled me out of that place. I've never been so happy to be alive."

"But sleep reminds you of that place," Rosa realized.

"Exactly." Max confirmed. "I would love to get to a point where I can sleep and dream in peace again. And I think I will, with time. Having Liz next to me helps more than she could possibly know."

"Oh, Max," Rosa cried, reaching over to give him a hug. "Consider me here for you if you ever need an ear. Just call me your ghost-zombie therapy buddy. We’re _both_ gonna be here to help you through this.”


	21. Chapter 21

_ Year 1 _

There was a slight bounce in his step when he entered the kitchen that morning, and it was enough to draw his entire family's attention. 

"Well look who is up and moving early this morning," his father greeted him dryly. "Got plans to do something with your life today, Max?"

Isobel snickered, so Max shot her a glare as he dropped into his seat at the table and poured himself a bowl of cereal.

"Cut him some slack," his mother protested on his behalf. "It's been rough for him lately. And I think it's nice to see you doing better, Max."

"Thanks, Mom." He replied with a grateful smile. It was a fairly typical family exchange. His father would criticize him for his lack of drive; for not being at college or having a full time job. Max would usually protest that he was working on his novel, or that tutoring students from the Military Academy _was_ a real job, but his father would hear none of it until his mother shut the conversation down. 

At least, that's how it would go on the days that Max left his room at all. Some days he had trouble even facing the outside world. Sometimes he couldn't even get out of bed, held prisoner by the crushing weight of his guilt in a queen-sized bed.

"Oh dear," his mother suddenly sighed with a shake of her head. She and his father were reading the newspaper over breakfast like they did most days, trading sections back and forth between the two of them as they ate.

"What is it?" His father glanced up from the sports section curiously. 

"Oh, it's the anniversary of that accident last year where those poor girls were killed."

"Tragedy," his father mumbled with a shake of his head, as his eyes went back to the baseball box scores.

"The Daily Record has a memorial on the front page today for the two girls who were in the car. And an expose on that Ortecho girl that was driving. It says that her autopsy showed that she was drunk _ and _high at the time of the accident. And she was known around town for being both a vandal and a drug dealer."

Max just kept his eyes trained on his cereal bowl. He didn't want to look at Isobel. He didn't want to know what was going through her head listening to their mom talk about the worst day of their lives.

Thankfully, he heard the newspaper pages rustling as his mom moved on to a different page. "Such a shame that she had to take two innocent girls with her when she decided to go."

He winced at her words, wanting to defend Rosa, who had no say in the matter, but knowing that he couldn't. After all, she _ was _ drunk and high that night. He saw her.

Needing to escape, Max shoved the last few bites in his mouth, and then rinsed his bowl, calling out a goodbye to his family as he hurried out the door.

It was a big day, after all. It was a day a year in the making, and he had plans.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He went straight to the Crashdown.

One year ago today, Liz Ortecho's sister had died. A few days later, she abruptly skipped town without saying goodbye and essentially broke his heart in the process. Since that day, he had spent twelve months fighting depression and trying desperately to write his feelings out, all while missing and longing for Liz. 

His father wasn't wrong when he complained of Max having no direction in life. He had two plans at the end of high school. One involved following Liz on her road trip and falling in love and just allowing her life to take him along on her adventure. The other involved traveling Europe with Michael and writing his first novel. Both dreams burned to ashes in that blue car alongside the bodies of Rosa, Kate, and Jasmine.

But now a year had passed. And Max was heading to the Crashdown with a single minded purpose: to see Liz Ortecho again. After all, she would want to be with her father today of all days, wouldn't she?

As Max drove his Jeep into the town square, he slowed, startled at the sight of a number of sheriff's department vehicles parked haphazardly in front of the Crashdown, lights flashing. 

He pulled into a parking space about a block away and sat there, watching and worrying. He could see Sheriff Valenti speaking with Liz's father, while his deputies seemed to be cataloguing evidence from a crime. Arturo Ortecho looked stressed out. He was talking with animation, his anxiety clearly high. 

Suddenly the sheriff stopped writing notes, placed a hand on Arturo's shoulder and seemed to ask him a question. Arturo nodded firmly.

Just like that, Valenti ordered his men to pack it up and call it a day.

"No crime to report here," he announced, loud enough that even Max could hear. 

Within a few minutes, the police presence was gone, and Arturo was alone with a broom, sweeping up the broken glass on the sidewalk all on his own.

Angry and determined to help, Max stepped from his Jeep and crossed the street to speak with Liz's father.

"Mr. Ortecho." Max greeted him. "Can I ask, what happened?"

Arturo nodded at him. "Max Evans, right?" Max nodded. "Liz always liked you." He said thoughtfully as he swept.

"I always liked her." Max replied, trying to not laugh at what an understatement it was coming from him. "We were friends. How is she doing? Is she here?"

"Oh, no," Arturo dismissed, with a long emphasis on the denial. "No, she's working hard, summer classes and a research internship. My little genius. No time to come home to her Papi. It's good though. Better for her this way."

Max nodded, because as he surveyed the scene he actually did understand what Arturo was saying. Broken glass littered the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, and it looked like both the door and the windows along the square had been busted in.

"Can I help you clean up, Mr Ortecho? It's a hard enough day for you and I don't have anywhere to be."

"Oh, I…" 

"It's the least I can do for Liz." Max insisted, and it seemed to be the right thing to say. Arturo swallowed his protest and nodded. 

"I can handle this mess just fine, but there's plenty more inside. There's another broom and more cleaning supplies in the break room closet."

"Got it."

Max stepped through the frame of the door into the restaurant and froze, surveying the scene in front of him. Liz's father wasn't exaggerating when he said there was more of a mess inside. It looked like there had been an earthquake, tornado, or some other natural disaster. The floor was covered with broken glass, broken plates, mugs, bowls…anything breakable had been strewn around the room and destroyed. Even all of the restaurant's cutlery was tossed all over the floor. 

It also looked like there had been a food fight. Clearly the intruders had gotten into the store room as well, and made as big of a mess of the place as possible. Gobs of ketchup dotted the tables, melted ice cream was dripping down the long front counter, and chunks of chocolate cake were sticking to the walls in a number of places.

But the mess wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the bright red paint on the wall screaming, "MURDERERS, GO BACK TO MEXICO".

Max's heart started pounding and he suddenly felt like he was losing his breath. He braced himself against the wall beside him and tried to force himself to take long, even breaths, but it quickly became harder, as he started crying and gasping for air.

_ We did this. _ He kept thinking. _ I did this _ . _ Because of me, Rosa was named a murderer and Arturo is a target. _

Guilt flooded through him, overtaking the initial panic that he felt at the sight of the disaster in front of him. He forced himself to pull it together, surveyed the room, and got to work.

_ I did this. I will fix this. _He decided.

He went to the back closet and grabbed a broom and a dustpan. He prepped a trash can for himself, and finally snagged a few of the plastic tubs from the bussing station. Slowly and carefully, he started sweeping up the debris, dumping a dustpan full at a time into one plastic bin so that he could fish out any silverware or anything else salvageable, before dumping the rest in the trash. 

He had worked through about a dozen loads when Liz's father joined him from outside. Working together went much faster than alone, and soon the floor was clear and they shifted their focus to cleaning the booths, and then the countertops. 

It was mid-afternoon, when Arturo emerged from the store room with a bottle of solution and a tag. "Since youve been so kind to help me, I will ask one last thing...can I please take advantage of your height and ask you to clean that for me." He gestured distastefully to the painted walls.

"Of course," Max agreed, and immediately went to work trying to wash away the stain of racism that the town had left behind.

"Oh no!" Max exclaimed sadly when he realized the paint thinner was cutting straight through the mural beneath as well. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Ortecho."

"There's nothing to be done," Arturo said sadly with a shrug. "At least it is only the one wall. I'll have Maria come over to see if she can fix it when you're done. She isn't quite as talented as Rosa, but she's the next best option."

After he was done with the wall, Arturo offered to make Max a burger, but Max refused. "No, you take care of yourself, Mr, Ortecho. I'm good. I have something else I need to do anyway."

"Okay," Arturo replied, and he grasped Max's hands in his own. "Thank you for your help today."

"I'm glad I was here." Max started to leave, but as he reached the door, he paused and turned back. "Mr. Ortecho? Please don't tell Liz about this...me helping with the cleanup I mean. She doesn't need to know."

Arturo just nodded in agreement, and then Max was out the door and gone. He passed the window repair guy, who was just arriving to replace the windows. Max smiled and waved as he crossed the street and hopped back into the Jeep.

One year ago his entire life had changed for the worse, and for the last year he'd been lost, treading water, despondent. But today, a year later, he was going to change his life again. Because he knew after spending the day with Arturo exactly what he wanted to do with himself. 

So Max drove straight to the Chavez County Sheriff's Department office in Roswell and enquired about the process to sign up for their academy program. He filled out the paperwork on the spot, and by sunset his future was no longer this nebulous unknown thing that he feared.

He walked into the house that evening and flopped onto the couch next to his sister, feeling lighter than he had in days, and it showed.

"What's with you?" Isobel asked curiously. "Did Liz come home like you dreamed she would?"

"No, actually, she didn't. I just finally figured out what I want today."

"Oh yeah, and what's that?"

"I...I want to help people, Iz. I want to feel like I'm standing up for what's right. I don't want being a bad person to define me for the rest of my life. I guess...I want to make up for my mistakes. So I signed up for the Sheriff's Academy."

"You _ what? _ " Isobel gaped. She stared at him for a long moment and then finally nodded. "No, actually, I can see it. You've always been a pain in my ass, brother. Now you can focus all of that _ 'do the right thing' _ energy on other people instead of me."

"Hey now!" 

"Seriously, though. Change is annoyingly difficult, Max, and so far you've kinda sucked at it. I'm glad that you found some direction. I hope that this is good for you."

"Thanks, Iz."

Two months later, the next freshman class initiated their training program at the Academy, and Max was sworn into civil service. That day, while standing in his freshly pressed uniform in front of the U.S. and Zia flags, he officially became Deputy-in-Training Evans. When the oath was over, they handed him a white cowboy hat, which Max held in his hands for a long time, before carefully placing it on his head and following his training officer to his first assignment.

  



	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’all!!! I had an insane day yesterday and clearly did not finish. And it took me most of today to finish yesterday’s up... So I’m now officially a day behind. 
> 
> I’ve gotten this far though so now instead of skipping I’m determined to catch up. Hopefully this weekend.
> 
> Adult ficlet today... warning you in advance!

Her heart froze as she looked out the window and saw the dark storm clouds approaching from the north. She felt the nervous anticipation bordering on fear that came now with the approaching monsoons. She used to love the storms. Now she dreaded them.

Liz turned from the window to study him. Max was casually reading a book on the couch a moment before, but it was as if he could feel the approaching storm. His focus seemed to be slipping, his eyes wandering towards the front door like he needed to be somewhere. His foot was tapping impatiently with excessive energy that needed release...energy that wasn't there a few minutes earlier.

The ambient light began to darken as the storm drew inevitably nearer. Liz turned to flip on a light. A split second distraction and when she turned back around, the front door was closing and Max was gone. 

Thunder crashed, vibrating the house, and the sky opened up, rain pouring onto the rooftop. 

Liz’s tears mirrored the rain.

She opened the door and stood in the doorway, looking out into the pounding rain. The wind sprayed water in her face, but she ignored the discomfort, squinting as she searched for Max in the storm.

When the lightning flashed, his silhouette was illuminated, rushing out to the middle of the desert. She shouted his name hopelessly, even though she knew he’d never hear her. The rain, the thunder...it all drowned her out.

She was powerless to help Max. She felt like she was suffocating.

Without even grabbing a coat, she hurried out in the storm, blindly heading in the direction she saw him in.

When the second flash came, it didn’t blink out. The electric energy connected with Max…or did he grab it? Take control of it? Liz could never quite tell. But it didn’t matter, because the problem was that he was absorbing all of that energy. 

It was like a drug to him. An addiction. He craved it and when the storms came, he couldn’t fight that need.

And the Max that came back from the storm was not the same Max that walked out into the rain. 

She watched in horror as he absorbed the storm’s energy, the electrical power crackling in the air, so strong that even she, a mere human, could feel it. The hair on her arms stood up, full of static even in the soaking rain, as she watched her love disappearing right in front of her eyes.

When he turned back to return to the house, he didn’t walk with the lazy, bow legged, cowboy gait of Max Evans. He stalked back like a cat, like a predator looking for his prey. Max was well practiced at trying to make himself look smaller than he was, both to avoid attention and to be less intimidating. Max didn’t want anyone to see him as a threat. But the Max that approached from across the desert exuded strength, power. Liz knew that Max would never hurt her, but yet, as she watched him walk towards her, she was a little afraid of him.

She knew the moment that he saw her watching, because all of a sudden the rain stopped falling on her. The storm hadn’t quelled in the slightest. She just stood in the middle of it, and nothing touched her. It was like an invisible umbrella had appeared over her head.

As he approached her, she could see the electricity cracking between his fingertips, like his own miniature lightning storm that he couldn’t fully contain. He stepped into her dry spot with her, silently he expanding it to contain both of them. 

There were gold flecks in his eyes all of a sudden. Another change the power had bestowed upon him. Last time his eyes had been red, bloodshot...but now she could see the energy there too.

“Liz, why are you out in the storm? It’s not safe for you.” 

He said the right words, and she could sense the affection there, but there was a strangeness to his voice that wasn’t quite  _ Max _ . He reached out and gently cupped her face, stroking wet hair away from her cheek, and she could feel the tenderness in his touch...but there was also a strange surge between his hand and her skin. It made her quiver, shiver, and she gasped aloud from the feel of it.

“Let’s go inside,” he urged her. She nodded silently, and followed as he led her back to the house.

Not a single raindrop touched her along the way.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Max held the door open for her as she entered the house, and she gasped as she walked through the threshold. It was like walking through a super dryer. Once she was fully in the house, her hair and clothes were fully dry, and she was suddenly warm and comfortable. Max followed her in and gave himself the same treatment. Then, with a wave of his hand, the fireplace had a perfect fire burning in it, making the house warmer and cozier. He snapped his fingers and all of the candles flared up. 

Liz turned to him after surveying the room, and he just grinned at her. “Not bad, eh?” Liz stayed silent.

Even though she was dry, and even though the house was warm, there was a shiver inside of her that wouldn’t quite go away. It was the part of her that loved Max… the part of her that worried about him. 

He couldn’t seem to stand still. He kept moving around the room, examining the fireplace, and wandering to the bookshelf. He ran light fingers over Liz’s arm as he passed her on the way to the kitchen, where he grabbed his whiskey and took a long drink from it. It clearly didn’t calm him down or slow him down. He paced back to the windows to look out into the storm. It was like he was a tiger at a zoo, looking for an escape.

That was the problem with this power. Max craved it. He loved the feeling of it sizzling through his veins. After spending so much of his life feeling powerless, the feeling of unlimited power was an undeniable pleasure for him. But once that power was inside of him, it needed to be released. And if it didn’t serve a purpose, then it was not dissimilar to an alien version of a drug overdose eventually.

Liz knew a few ways that she could help him release it. Of course, most of them would result in another citywide blackout...if they were lucky, considering that he had the power of a monsoon inside of him. To be safe they would have to go far into isolation...if they were going to release it that way. The alternative was for him to do something massive with his power...kill, or heal, or create, or destroy. Liz wasn’t sure any of those things were a good idea at this moment though.

She watched her weather app, tracking the path of the storm as she formed a plan. Then she waited for the storm outside to pass. 

Once the rain let up, Liz approached him. Max was pacing back and forth in front of a bookshelf, mumbling to himself as he flipped pages in a book. His head snapped up at the sound of her and he grinned at her. “Liz!” He exclaimed enthusiastically. “I’m trying to remember this poem...it makes me think of you. But I can’t quite remember it. Something about...being kissed by the morning light and dancing with the stars...I know I have it around here somewhere!”

“Oh yeah,” Liz asked. “Tell me about it?”

“Well, it’s by this poet who is, like, our age. She just has an amazing way with words and published her first book of poems, like, 5 years ago.” He was rambling as he continued to flip through the book, and then he suddenly yelled out, “OH! Here it is!”

Liz reached out to him and lay a hand on his arm, drawing his attention back to her. “Sit down for a sec and read it to me?”

Max nodded eagerly and went to sit on the couch. She followed, waited until he was settled, and then essentially climbed up onto him so that he was pinned beneath her. She straddled his lap, and sat back to rest on his knees. Gently she slid her hands up his arms to his shoulders and rubbed them, smiling mischievously at him.

“Hello.” She said with a smirk. She was desperately trying to appear confident, seductive...she wanted him to want her in this moment. She prayed that he couldn’t sense her discomfort, her worry, or her nervous energy. She tried to bury the negative feelings and focus herself on taking care of Max. He needed her.

“Hi…” he murmured. His voice had deepened, as he clearly began to receive her signals. She slid one hand from his shoulder up to his cheek, stroking his stubble with her thumb before reminding him. “So, that poem…”

“Right!” Max exclaimed. “Okay… so this is by Amanda Katherine Ricketson. She signs all of her poems AKR.” He cleared his throat and read to her.

_ “you taste like sunshine  _

_ just like you've been kissed  _

_ by the morning light _

_ and I was the darkness _

_ dancing with the stars _

_ carelessly, breathlessly _

_ and our lips meet softly, _

_ color erupting in the atmosphere _

_ the absolute lightest darkness _

_ dawn is breaking: _

_ A fleeting moment when _

_ the sun can kiss the moon.” _

Liz leaned over and kissed him softly when he was done reading. “That was lovely, thank you.”

“You’re lovely.” Max responded, kissing her again. “Thank you.”

“So!” Liz declared firmly, taking Max’s face in her hands. “There’s somewhere I want you to take me, tonight. It’s going to be incredible, but it’s a bit of a drive. Can we get going?”

“Sounds good,” he agreed.

“Just grab a few blankets and a flashlight, maybe. It might get cold later. And then let’s go.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The monsoon had come down from the mountains up near Santa Fe to the northwest, which meant that if they drove far enough east/northeast of town, they’d eventually find themselves in dry wilderness. So Liz directed Max to take I-70 out of town. But soon after, they crossed the meandering Pecos River, and Liz sent Max north on an unmarked county road that paralleled the river. There were no lights reflecting in the distance, no other cars on the road, and drove until they were easily 30 miles outside of town. Liz desperately hoped that this was enough.

She had Max take a left on a dirt road that took them down closer to the river, and then they pulled off the road, parking the car. Max grabbed the blankets from the backseat, while Liz, in what she knew wasn’t nonchalant at all, made her way around to the drivers side of the vehicle, popped the hood, and leaned in to unhook the battery from the car.

When she closed the hood, Max was watching her curiously. “What are you doing?”

“Trust me.” Liz insisted. “It’ll only help us later.” 

She reached out to grasp his free hand, fingers interlocking, and led him down a trail, guiding their way by flashlight. Eventually they reached a small, flat overlook near the river. Max lay the blankets out for them, and they settled in for the evening.

The sound of the rushing river roared as it carved its way through the shallow canyon below them, weaving through the abrupt bends, each one eating away at the bankline beside it. 

Liz wondered if the sound of the water was relaxing him, or simply increasing his wild energy. He was laying there with her, his jacket under his head as a pillow, with a hand tucked under his head as well. Liz lay with her head cushioned on his chest. She could hear his heart racing, but he wasn't behaving manic anymore. His free hand was just gently laying on her shoulder. But she could still feel that tingle from him. She could still tell that he was consumed by the power.

He needed a release, even if he didn't know that he needed it. And Liz knew exactly how to help him.

She sat up, kicking a leg over his body so that she was lying on top of him. And then she reached up to pull his face down to her so that she could capture his lips in a long, slow, sensual kiss, that she hoped communicated her intentions. From the insistant pressure she felt growing from him below, she was certain that he understood.

She pulled her sweater up and over her head, tossing it unceremoniously to the side. His hands stayed glued to her waist, while she kissed him again. One by one she slipped open the buttons of his shirt, bit by bit revealing his bare chest, until she could slide the whole thing off of his shoulders. The rest of their clothes soon followed.

Liz gasped and smiled when Max shifted so that he could flip their positions. Liz didn’t mind at all. His body was warm, and that warmth enveloped her with him above her, around her.

She still felt the strange sensation from his power everywhere their skin touched. Inherently she still knew it was wrong, but as the heat built between them and the passion grew stronger, somehow that tingling sensation shifted into currents of pleasure that just kept growing more intense as his hands moved across her bare skin. He pushed inside her, and she cried out, because it was like a shockwave of electric bliss surging inside of her.

The power was exquisite...inside of her where he moved within her...on her inner thighs and ankles, which were locked around his hips and lower back...everywhere his hands and lips journeyed, from her arms, to her breasts, her lips, the curve of her jawline… she burned…

And with her last coherent thought she wondered if this was what it felt like for him, to have all of that power inside him?

They came explosively, together, a shockwave bursting from them that left Liz gasping for air, and Max barely conscious beside her. 

When Liz was capable she sat up and looked around them. It was as if they were lying in the middle of a small crater. For about 25 feet around them, the shrubs and rocks had all blown away from the strength of the wave of energy that Max released when he came. 

Liz crouched down over Max, checking him. His eyes were open and he was breathing, but he didn’t react when she called his name. She leaned down, stroking his cheek and kissing his forehead. Only then he blinked, his eyes focusing on her, and he smiled dreamily at her.

“Well that was wild.”

“How do you feel?” Liz asked, searching his eyes for signs of trouble. The electricity had faded from his eyes, and as she stroked his chest, everything felt normal. 

“I feel…like I could sleep for a week.” Max admitted. 

Liz laughed. “Maybe I should drive us home then!”

“Might be safer that way.” Liz helped Max sit up, and then she stood and wandered the site in search of their discarded clothes. Once dressed, they headed back to the car. While walking, she couldn’t help noticing that Max’s body language was back to normal too. Her plan seemed to have worked.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next monsoon came three days later. 

Liz was working a shift at the Crashdown when she heard the familiar rumble in the air. She looked out the front door and saw the lightning flash and the rain rushing from the sky. Her heart dropped.

Max was working too. 

Liz was so grateful that the Sheriff had allowed Cam to return to the force. At least she knew that Max wasn’t alone. He had a partner with him who knew the truth, who could help protect him, if needed.

A few hours later, Cam called Liz. She hadn’t seen Max wander out into the storm. When he came back inside he was dry and pretended all was normal, but Cam thought he seemed a little off.

That night on patrol, they were chasing down a perp, and all of a sudden, it was like the highway in front of them had turned into a spike strip. The perp’s tires were busted out, and by the time they were collecting evidence the highway was flat and smooth, back to normal...no sign that anything had changed.

They responded to a break in call, and Max repaired the broken windows with just a thought while no one was looking. 

The storm had knocked out power to half the town, and that was how most of the energy dissipated from his system. He repaired the power lines and boosted energy to the city’s conductors to speed up the process of getting electricity spread back throughout the outage area, including the hospital.

When he came home that night, he seemed normal, but Liz was still worried. A little miracle here and there could go unnoticed. A bulk of them occurring all in one night, repeatedly, whenever a storm passed through, was a recipe for catching the military’s attention.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a week after their night in the desert that another storm approached while they were alone together. Liz could see the signs in him before it even arrived. The impatient energy, lack of focus. Before he hit the point of pacing, Liz intercepted him. She sat down on the couch beside him, and took his hands, ensuring that his attention was on her.

“Max...please.” She pleaded softly with him. “Please don’t do this.”

He looked at her, confused, and played dumb at first, “I don’t… what are you talking about?”

“The storm, Max.” His eyes dropped, and he looked ashamed. Liz decided to jump on the opportunity, hoping that he was listening. "We could have a chance, Max. We’re on the verge of a real future here. But you can't keep doing this. Every time you go out there, it's like you lose more of yourself to the storm. Less Max comes back, and this…omnipotent alien god returns instead."

"Maybe that is me, Liz. Maybe that's who I'm truly supposed to be."

"No." Liz declared. "No. I refuse to accept that. I know you, Max. I've known you all your life. And I love you. The Max Evans I know wouldn't throw that away, because I know he loves me too. This thing between us has to be stronger than any alien power.”

“I don’t know if I can stop.” Max admitted. “It keeps pulling at me. It’s like I can’t ignore it.”

Lightning flashed and thunder rolled. He dropped Liz’s hands, and she shivered, while he looked to the window.

“Please,” she whispered, as he stood and took a few slow steps towards the door. 

“Max!” She cried out loudly, but he was out the door into the storm. She stood and ran out after him. 

He was only a few feet outside of the house when Liz reached him. She grabbed his arm and pulled him around to face her. His eyes had been distant, but they focused back on her as she cupped his face in her hands. 

“Please,” she begged again. “Stay with me, Max.” She pulled him in for a kiss, a final plea for him to fight the addiction, to ignore his instinctual need. She kissed him to remind him that her lips were the craving that he had desired ever since he understood what romantic love was. How could this new drug ever compare to the feeling of her in his arms?

The rain poured down on them, water drenching Liz’s hair, Max’s skin. Her sweater molded to her curves, and his jeans were plastered to his legs, and still they ignored it and continued to hold each onto each other. 

He clung to her desperately, and Liz understood that if she let go, she would lose him to the inferno that came with the storm’s power. So she held on tight, anchoring him to the earth, to the human world. 

Lightning flashed, and he tightened his grip on her waist. Her fingers clawed into the skin of his shoulders. And their lips continued their own desperate entanglement, until the storm passed.

As the clouds moved on, they continued to stand there in front of the house, foreheads pressed together and arms around each other. They were soaking wet, and Liz began to shiver, but she didn’t really care all that much. She just smiled and reached up to push a drippy lock of hair off of Max’s forehead.

“You did it.” She sighed happily, relieved. “I love you so much. I knew you could do it.”

  
  



	23. Chapter 23

Max began to wonder if his friends would never leave. But then he felt guilty for thinking that way. He understood that a significant period of time had passed for them and everyone missed him. At first it was nice to see them all, as they caught him up on everything that had happened while he was dead. But as the night dragged on, and his energy drained from all of the social interaction, he began to realize that Liz had kept her distance from him throughout the evening. 

Even when they were in the same room, she seemed to be staying on the opposite side of the room. She was keeping herself busy playing hostess to everyone. She would disappear into the kitchen for a while and return with food for the group. Somehow she managed to make sure there were no empty glasses in the room. And when everyone was done, the dirty dishes would quickly disappear along with Liz back into the kitchen. It was strange, but also incredibly endearing, to see her hosting their friends in _ his house _ as if it was _ their house _ . 

Max could see little signs of her all over the room from where he sat on the couch next to his sister. Evidence littered his house that it had been well occupied while he'd been gone, and he loved every single change he saw. Her leather jacket was hanging next to his near the front door. A notebook and a messy stack of papers with her handwriting all over them were on the coffee table in the middle of the room. There was a blanket he didn't recognize on the couch that Isobel now had wrapped around her for warmth.

And those were just some of the changes that he could see from where he currently sat. He wanted to explore the rest of his house to see what other little domestic changes he could find. Did she have clothes in his closet? Shampoo in his shower? Did her toothbrush sit next to his in the bathroom now? Where was she sleeping? Would there be a new pillow on his bed? Or had she exiled herself to the guest room in his absence?

He couldn't wait to discover the answers to all of these questions.

He feigned a yawn and was surprised when Michael, of all people, noticed and took the hint.

"How about we call it a night, let Max get some rest," he suggested. "I dunno, I would have thought four months was long enough, but apparently the deputy is getting lazy in his old age."

Max rolled his eyes while everyone else laughed, and they all got up and slowly started to make their exit. First Maria and Alex headed for the door, Maria pausing to squeeze his shoulder before they left the house. Then Kyle and Rosa stood, with Rosa heading to the kitchen to say goodbye to Liz. Kyle, on the other hand, turned his attention to Max.

"Everything appears normal right now, but if you start to feel off, or if anything happens, just call me immediately, okay Evans?" 

"Got it," Max confirmed. 

Kyle glanced to Liz, who was cleaning used mugs in the kitchen, and called out, "Keep an eye on him, Liz. Let me know if you need me."

"Okay!" Liz called back, and Max smiled. He liked the assurance that she wasn't planning to go anywhere, even though they hadn't talked about it yet.

Last to leave, of course, was his family. Michael didn't say much. He just lingered by the door, cowboy hat in hand, waiting for Isobel who dove in for a borderline smothering hug. 

"Oh, I've missed you so much, brother." Isobel murmured into his ear. "The world just felt wrong without you in it."

"I know exactly what you mean," he told her softly. "It was the same for me, when you were in the pod. I'm sorry that I put you through that."

"I'm just so glad you're back," she replied. "You're never allowed to die again, okay?"

Max chuckled. "Understood."

"Good," Isobel nodded firmly. "See you tomorrow."

And then they were alone together. But there was still all this space between them. Too much space. Liz was rinsing dishes in the kitchen sink, her back to him, and he still sat there watching her from the couch. He stood, as she turned off the water, slowly making his way towards her. She hadn't moved. She was bracing herself on the lip of the kitchen sink like it was the only thing holding her upright. Her shoulders were stiff, and as he approached her he realized that she was breathing heavily.

He stood behind her, reached around and slid his hands over her wrists and down to cover the backs of her hands on the counter. She leaned back into him, loosening her grip on the counter, until he was able to guide her hands back to hug her own body. 

She finally turned around and wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head on his chest. She fit perfectly against him, his chin resting on her head. He stroked her hair gently, and just murmured her name softly, happily. But his smile faded as he realized that the spot where her face was pressed against him was growing wet. She was crying.

”Oh,” he gasped softly. “I’m so sorry, Liz. I’m so sorry. I’m here now.”

He held her, rubbing her back and whispering to her, until her breathing returned to normal. Finally she pulled back from him, wiping her eyes clear of her sorrow. Looking up at him, she threaded her fingers through his, and tugged him out of the kitchen, leading him back to his bedroom.

"Let's get comfortable," she suggested. "And then we can talk."

Max nodded in agreement. She opened the closet door and he grinned widely as he peeked in over her head. One side of the closet was now filled with her clothes. The sight of it sent a thrill through him.

She opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of boxers and a t-shirt and tossed them at him. He stood there, uncertain for a moment, wondering what he should do, when she suddenly pulled her shirt off. She kept her back to him as she unhooked her bra and slid it off, and he froze, his eyes glued to the smooth skin of her back. He wanted to reach out and slide his fingers down her spine, just to feel how soft it was. He wanted to press a kiss to the back of her neck, and another between her shoulder blades…

She slipped a tank top over her head, cutting off his train of thought and reminding him that, yes, he was supposed to be changing his clothes. As far as he could tell, sex wasn't meant to be on the menu tonight, and that was probably for the best. Sighing, he turned his back to Liz as well, hoping to hide the evidence of how much he enjoyed the sight of her changing her clothes, as he unfastened his jeans and pushed them off. 

Boxers on and shirt off, he turned back around to find Liz watching him. He couldn't quite interpret the look on her face, so he just looked at her quizzically as he pulled his t-shirt on over his head.

"Is it weird that I'm here?" Liz suddenly asked. "I mean, most guys don't wake up one morning to find their girlfriend moved into their house while they were sleeping."

"I wasn't sleeping, Liz," he reminded her. "I was dead. For months." 

He turned and climbed into the bed, laying back against the headboard, and gestured for her to join him. She slipped in next to him, curling her front up against his side. He slipped an arm around her and her head relaxed onto his shoulder. He smiled down at her, leaning in and kissing her forehead.

"All evening, I've been silently cataloguing all of the signs of you around my house, and every single one that I saw made me happier and happier, until you opened my closet. Seeing your clothes in there beside mine? You just have no idea how much joy that brings me. Of course I don't mind that you're here. I love that you're here. Stay as long as you want to. Stay forever.”

“I might just do that,” Liz admitted.

“Not planning on running away from me anymore?” Max teased, half joking, but honestly a little curious.

“I found out that there’s something a whole lot scarier than commitment,” Liz confessed. “Losing you.”

Max felt a sharp pain in his heart...his new heart...that Liz had found for him. The heart that she had helped Kyle transplant into his body to replace the old broken heart that he had sacrificed to bring her sister back to life. There was something different about this new heart...he didn't feel like a different person, really, nor had his feelings and emotions changed in any way. But it felt weathered...stronger than his old heart. It felt like it could sustain more, feel more, do more…like it had been waiting a long time for this second chance.

Max had a second chance too, thanks to this heart. He didn't want to take a damn thing for granted this time around. 

“You know I’d do anything for you, right Liz? I’d give you anything in my power. Anything I can do to make you happy.”

“You can't give more than yourself, Max. And you already did that once. Please, don’t ever do it again. Stay. That’s what I need you to do. Just...stay with me.”

"I'm planning on it," he insisted. "I swear to you, Liz... I'm gonna do whatever I can do to make sure I never hurt you that way again."

"Then that's all I need to be happy." Liz told him with a simplicity that made it all sound too easy. "You, here, beside me."

And Max thought that sounded like perfection too.


	24. Chapter 24

“How long am I gonna have to stay down here?”

He looked up from the plate of food he was assembling for her, his brow furrowed. “You’re not a prisoner, Rosa. You can leave whenever you want. I won’t stop you.”

Rosa groaned and threw her hands in the air with frustration, cursing in Spanish. “I know that!” She paced back and forth across the bunker, mumbling to herself under her breath. There were so many things making her crazy right now. Her pounding headache, she was hot, sweaty, shakey...the bunker was stuffy and she wanted fresh air. She missed _ people _.

“How much longer will the detox take, I mean? It’s like time has no meaning down here. I can’t even see the sun.”

“You’re over the hump, Rosa. Just four more days.”

“That sounds like an eternity,” she moaned.

“I know, but you can do it. I believe in you.”

Rosa eyed him suspiciously. She still didn’t quite know what to make of him. This man, who was the sheriff. Pigs couldn’t be trusted, after all. But this pig was also apparently her father? According to her useless mother, at least. And he seemed to believe her. And he seemed to care. 

“You don’t know me all that well,” Rosa reminded him. “Patience… is not something I'm known for. And I’m going crazy down here.”

“What can I bring you?” Valenti asked. “What can I do to help?”

“Vodka?” Rosa joked. Valenti smiled sadly and shook his head. “Maybe some drawing paper and colored pencils or something?”

“I can do that. But you have to do something for me in return.” 

“What’s that?” Rosa was immediately suspicious. 

“Draw me something?”

Just like that the negative feelings melted away, and Rosa found herself staring at this man...a man whose blood she shared, who contributed to the addiction that lived inside her DNA, but also helped give her the tools and strength to fight it. He was saving her at a time when even she thought she might be lost forever to the darkness.

“Of course.” She agreed. “Of course I’ll draw something for you. Thank you.”

Two days later, he silently cried when she gave him a simple drawing of her rose. She flushed, embarrassed by his overemotional reaction, but he swore that it was the perfect gift. 

“I never thought that I would ever get such a gift from my only daughter,” he confessed

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After her initial detox in the bunker, Rosa was grateful to go home for a month, to be clean, and to be watching her sister maneuver her last few weeks of high school. For the most part her life was back to normal. She worked shifts at the Crashdown, hung out after work with Liz and their friends, occasionally sneaked off with Izzy for some secret friend time. 

Sometimes she would see Sheriff Valenti around town. He would tip his hat to her, give her a wink and call her 'ma'am', but generally would go about his business. They never spoke about the 10 days she spent detoxing in his secret bunker; how he held her hair while she threw up when she couldn't hold down food, or fed her broth when she was shaking and trembling so violently that she couldn't bring a spoonful to her mouth without spilling it all over herself.

And they definitely didn't talk about the bus ticket stashed in the bottom of her backpack. A ticket for one to Los Alamos, where he had booked her into a 28 day rehab program at a facility isolated in the mountains near Valles Caldera. 

This month in between the detox and rehab felt like the test of a lifetime. She was desperately fighting to stay clean. She was also terrified that she wouldn't be able to go through with the whole rehab thing. Leaving Roswell wasn't something that ever seemed in the cards for her. But the thought of it also gave her a thrill of excitement for her potential adventure, one that could change her life, if she could see it through.

All she had to do was survive 30 days. 

  



	25. Chapter 25

Maria poured herself a tequila shot and quickly knocked it back, closing her eyes as she felt the familiar burn of the liquor on her throat, the warmth in her stomach. She gestured the bottle towards Liz, but her friend waved it off. 

"I've gotta keep my head clear. I'm going back to the lab after this. But talk to me, Maria! What's going on?"

"Stupid Guerin." Maria complained, as she poured herself another shot. "Just...stupid Guerin being stupid. He's been a mess ever since…" Maria froze and met Liz's eyes apologetically.

"...ever since Max died. I know." Liz finished, her voice emotionless. Maria cursed herself for being too focused on herself and Guerin and not thinking about her best friend. Michael wasn't the only one messed up over Max. The only difference between the two of them was how they channeled their grief. Guerin was a loud, hot, angry mess. Liz was burying her emotions and focusing all of her energy on her lab work, on trying to save Max.

"What did he do this time?" Liz asked her.

Maria sighed. "Oh you know...he was already pretty drunk when he got here tonight. Used his powers to snag a bottle of whiskey while I was busy with an actual paying customer and got even sloppier. Took it out to the parking lot and picked fights with the rednecks until the deputies showed up to arrest him."

"Uggghhh," Liz groaned. "He's in jail again?"

"He should rot in there for a few days, Liz. Maybe he'll sober up and realize that he needs to clean up his life a bit."

"Maybe…" Liz pondered. "The problem is that I need him for my research. I can go a day or two, but eventually I'm going to need more samples from him, at minimum. And when he can stay sober his brain actually helps too."

Maria knocked back the second tequila shot. "You know, Liz? Twelve years ago when Kyle first asked you out and we had that sleepover party, you know, the one where you came clean and told us all about how he did it and your first kiss and everything. Then we did all of those quizzes in Seventeen Magazine on how to know when you've found '_the one_'. Back then we never could have imagined that we'd be sitting here today talking about our alien boyfriends."

"_YOUR_ alien boyfriend," Liz corrected her. "Officially I don't have an alien boyfriend right now. I have an alien corpse." 

"Liz!" Maria cried out. But Liz stopped her from saying more with a gesture.

"No. Please don't, Maria. I just can't." Maria nodded sadly. "But tell me what I can do for you? Do you need anything? Anything at all?"

The question took Maria a little by surprise. She had texted Liz, asking her to drop by the Pony because she wanted a friendly ear to vent to about the latest incident Guerin. But now her concern had shifted to Liz's well being, and yet, her friend was still worrying about Maria?

“I could really eat something.” Maria admitted, slowly, as she was just now realizing it. “Oh my gosh, yeah...I’m so hungry!”

Liz laughed out loud. “Thank goodness that one is easy for me to fix. You finish locking up and I’ll be back in 20 minutes with some burgers.”

“Ohhhh...you’re my hero, Liz. Thaaaaank you.”

“Hey, I’ve got you." Liz smiled at her friend as she slid off of her barstool. "But Maria? Maybe don't do any more tequila shots on an empty stomach? I'll be back soon."

Maria saluted her friend, and then went back to cleaning tables.


	26. Chapter 26

Max smiled, as he pulled up the dusty dirt road to his house late that afternoon, just as the sun was starting to set, to see that Liz had beat him home. She was out in front of the house building a fire. She looked adorable, already in her comfy clothes with her hair pulled up in a messy bun, as she grabbed a pair of logs from the wood pile. 

He parked, stepped from the car, and meandered over to say hello.

"Evening deputy," she greeted him with a mocking drawl.

"Evening ma'am," he replied in suit. "What seems to be the problem here?"

"Hmmm," she mused. "Well now, I'd like to report a robbery."

"A robbery?" Max asked with a grin, "Sounds serious. Was anything valuable taken?"

"Yes," Liz insisted, "You've stolen my heart."

Max laughed out loud. "Cheesy, Liz, but I’m good with it." He leaned in and kissed her hello.

"You're the writer," she reminded him. "I just work with what I can." She gave him a second soft kiss on the lips, that lingered a bit this time.

"Go get changed," she suggested. "I'll have the fire going when you come back."

A few minutes later, relieved of the weight of his gun and utility belt, and comfortably changed into jeans and a hoodie, he made his way back outside, a bottle of whiskey in hand. Liz was true to her word. The fire was burning brightly. Liz stood there, pushing the logs around with a stick, her eyes focused on the firepit like it was one of her science experiments. The flames painted a flowing pattern of light that journeyed across her face.

Max sat down in one of the oversized wood chairs, took a drink of whiskey, and then set the bottle off to the side. The sunset had shifted the sky to a brilliant orange that nearly matched the shade of the flames dancing in the firepit.

Finally satisfied with her work, Liz put her stick aside and turned her attention to Max. He gestured for her to join him, so she slid into the chair between his legs. He wrapped his arms around her, and she leaned her head back against his chest, sighing happily as she settled in comfortably.

"This is nice," Max murmured to her, as he watched the dancing flames. "We should do this more often. What's the occasion?"

"You don't know?" Liz asked. She chuckled. "Well then, Maria owes me five bucks."

"What? Why?"

"Her theory was that, as the more sentimental one in our relationship, you'd know. I thought that with everything that has happened this past year, it was way too easy to forget. I mean, you were dead for half the year, so maybe it doesn't even count."

Suddenly, Max understood exactly what she was implying and he immediately cursed himself for not thinking about it. But Liz was right. With all that had happened, the passing of time didn't quite feel as it should.

"It's our anniversary,” he determined, amazed at the thought of it.

Liz nodded, "Maria pointed out to me yesterday that it was the one year anniversary of the Texas road trip. She had posted a few road trip pics on Instagram and got a reminder."

"That road trip was kind of a disaster," Max remembered with a laugh.

"Arizona was a fraud, all of us, except you, got horribly drunk, and Michael and Maria hooked up "

"But the next morning you kissed me."

"I did." Liz chuckled. "I wanted to that whole trip, though. I hadn't seen you in weeks, but all that time I had been working day and night trying to save Isobel...for you. And then seeing you again...it was like I couldn't ignore all of the things I felt for you anymore, even though they scared me to death."

The sunset had deepened to the color of rust, the sun low on the horizon, nearly touching the peaks of the distant mountains.

"You know what I've always found kind of funny?" Max asked her. "We never talked about it after that. It was like, you kissed me, and that was it. No more questions. We've just been together ever since."

"We're a team," Liz agreed. "A perfectly imperfect partnership. There was never any question."

Max leaned down pressing his lips to hers. He kissed her with a slow, languid patience, like they had all the time in the world to love each other. Liz sighed happily against his mouth and answered his call, and through the dancing of their lips, they reinforced every promise they ever made to each other.

The sun disappeared behind the mountains, the sky darkened, and one by one the stars the stars began to blink into sight, blanketing the night sky with its tiny lights. The temperature began to drop as night tightened its grip. Max noticed that he could see his breath, and wondered it if was time to head inside.

"Are you cold?" He asked her.

"You keep me warm." She responded with a smile. "Let's stay a bit longer."

"As long as you want," Max replied. "Forever, if that's what you need."


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ficlet is kinda AU. I wanted to play with the idea of “what if Rosa didn’t have time to hide Max’s love letter before she died. Because, really, when did she have the time? Lol! How would Liz’s behavior after Rosa’s death change if she had gotten the note from Max.
> 
> So yeah, Echo, mostly fluff with a side helping of angst. It’s sort of how I roll. Ha!

Max knew his head was a mess.

He was haunted by all the things that they had done. He could still feel Rosa's skin under his hand as he desperately tried, and failed, to heal her. Whenever he heard a click his brain lept straight to the moment that he buckled Rosa into the driver's seat of her car. And he could still smell it — their bodies burning. Because _he_ lit the fire that made it happen. That was the worst part. That was the part that filled his gut with so much guilt that it made him physically nauseous. He could barely keep any food down these days.

He was terrified all the time too. Worried that they missed something, that some evidence was left behind that would point straight to him and his family as the killers responsible for their deaths. He was afraid for Isobel. She hadn't had another blackout since that night, and she was behaving perfectly normal. Almost alarmingly normal. She was acting like there wasn't a secret that was ripping her conscience in two. And since she had no memory of the cave, maybe it wasn’t.

Most of all though, he worried about Liz. She hadn't been in school since her sister died. He knew she must be in a world of pain right now, mourning Rosa. He wanted to check on her, to comfort her, but he didn't feel like he had the right.

More than anything else he wanted to come clean. He could live with keeping this secret from Isobel. He struggled with the cover up, moralistically, but he knew he could push through and survive it. He was used to keeping secrets. But lying to the girl he loved, keeping something so relevant to her life and her family from her...that was more than he could tolerate.

He started taking the long way home from school about a week before finals. It drove Isobel crazy and she complained the whole time, but it allowed him to drive past the Crashdown and scope out the situation. He never caught a glimpse of her though. 

"You should stay away from her," Isobel reminded him, each time they passed, but Max dismissed her each and every time. Sometimes she would furrow her brow and stare at him so intensely as they sat and waited at the stop sign in front of the restaurant that he wondered if she was trying to get inside his head, but he pushed the thought away. He trusted his sister. Or at least he thought he did. Most of the time, at least.

It was the second to last day of regular classes, and while everyone else rushed around looking for yearbook signatures or setting up last minute cram sessions, Max just lay on the hood of his Jeep in the student parking lot, reading _ 1984 _. For fun, of course. It was maybe an ironic choice considering how paranoid he and Michael were about the cover up, but it had been more than a week and a half now and it still seemed like there was no 'big brother' watching them.

"Max, could we talk?" 

The one voice he wanted to hear the most, and expected to hear the least, interrupted his reading. He was so surprised to see her there that he almost fell off his car in a scramble to give her his attention.

"Liz!" He exclaimed a little too loud, as he slid to the ground, stumbling to regain his balance. "Oh my gosh, I've been worried sick about you. I'm so sorry for what you're going through."

"Thanks," Liz replied shortly, in a tone that clearly indicated that talking about Rosa was not why she was here.

"So...what's up?" He asked curiously.

Liz shifted a bit uncomfortably. So, I was going through some of Rosa's things last night, and I found this hidden under her pillow." Liz pulled a folded up piece of paper from her pocket, and held it up for him to see. 

"When I first opened it, I got really angry and jealous. I just couldn’t believe that you'd be going after me and Rosa at the same time. I was so mad at myself, thinking that I had completely misread you are all of these years…but then I reread it a few times and I realized...this isn’t about Rosa, is it? You wrote this for me, didn't you?"

She unfolded the note and handed it to him. There it was, his love letter to Liz, in his own handwriting, plain as day. 

"Yes," he admitted. "I wrote it that night that we went to the desert, after I dropped you off. I tried to leave it for you on your car, but Rosa caught me and told me off, insisted that I stay away from you." He handed the note back to her and she carefully folded it back up and slid it into her pocket.

"Is that why you haven't come by the Crashdown at all?"

"No!" Max insisted. "No," he firmly repeated. "I've been wanting to see you. I just didn't want to intrude. I know you need to be with your family right now."

"Oh." Liz murmured. "Good."

Max glanced around the parking lot. There were a lot of people around. Too many people. "I have a lot of things I want to talk to you about," Max confessed. "But this isn't really the best time or place."

"Well...we'll have plenty of time to talk on the road, right?" Liz looked up at him hopefully. She was clearly testing the waters with the question, trying to get a sense of what he was currently thinking regarding the trip. Max had to admit, if she was still going, he wanted to go too, if she’d have him. But her sister had just died. He fully expected the situation to be different now than it was the last time they spoke.

"You're still going?” He asked. “And you still want me to come?"

"I am itching to hit the road," Liz admitted. "Every bone in my body is telling me to get away from this place right now...to run. I almost took off a few days ago, but then I found your letter, and I just couldn't leave without talking to you one more time. Did you mean it, when you said you'd go with me?"

"Yeah, I did," Max confirmed.

"What would you say if I suggested that we leave tomorrow?"

The question gave Max a moment of hesitation. The next day was going to be their last full day of classes. Then they had a few days of finals, and then graduation. Of course he wanted to drop everything for Liz, but he also wanted to graduate from high school alongside Isobel and Michael.

"Honestly, Liz? I would say that if you can hold off for one more week, then we can both finish high school with our records clean, graduate, say a proper goodbye to your sister, and leave Roswell with a clean slate. I'm not sure I can leave before Graduation. My parents would kill me. So I guess what I'm saying is...can you wait for me? I need a week, Liz. Just a week."

"One week, huh?" Liz mused. "As much as I am dying to get out of here, I do want to see where this thing between us goes. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you're still willing to change your plans for me, then I'm willing to wait a bit longer for you."

Liz suddenly reached for him and hugged him, taking him completely by surprise. Max wrapped his arms around her tightly, hoping that she didn't notice the way his hands were shaking, nervous but awed at the miracle that was Liz Ortecho being a part of his life. 

“I can't wait to kiss you at the Grand Canyon." Liz whispered to him, before pulling away from him and turning to leave.

Max's eyes followed her as she left the schoolyard, heading home on foot, back to her father and their family’s growing memorial to her sister. His stomach flip flopped at the thought of Rosa. He still needed to confess his guilt to Liz. It wasn't fair to go on the road trip with her with all of these secrets between them. 

But in his imagination he could see the sun setting over the canyon, the rusty orange and pinks of the sky mingling with the canyon walls, as he leaned down and captured Liz's lips for the first time, like a dream come to life...and it was suddenly awfully easy to agree with her.

They'd have plenty of time to talk on the road.


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is like a prequel to ficlet #22...
> 
> Echo, dark, somewhat adult, and power hungry dark Max...

It was on his third time since his resurrection that Liz figured out what was going on.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The first time was during a shift. He was at the Sheriff's station and had just brought in his first perp since returning to work. The guy was in the interrogation room waiting for questioning, and Max was about to go to work on him, when suddenly he got an unanticipated bout of vertigo. He stopped, leaning against the wall for support, waiting for the room to stop spinning. When he believed he was finally over it, he took a few steps and just felt weak, like he was going to fall over, or pass out. He couldn't be alone in a room with a criminal feeling this vulnerable. 

He was alone in the hallway and he searched the space, desperate for an idea on how to remedy the situation. His eyes fell on a wall socket. He recalled the sensation of absorbing electricity to increase his strength for the battle with Noah. If he was capable of channeling a storm, a little electricity from the power grid should be easy in comparison, right? And maybe it would give him the boost he needed to finish off his workday.

Checking one last time that there was no one approaching, he crouched down low next to the wall socket and placed his hand over it. A deep breath and a pulling sensation with his powers, and there it was, the sizzling burn of the electricity, flowing from the power grid into his cells, his nerves, his bloodstream. He gasped at the sensation of the energy spike entering his system. Immediately he felt stronger, capable of so much more. He felt a burning need to keep going, to absorb as much as possible, to tap into the whole city grid if he could, but his survival instinct kicked in and reminded him that anyone could walk into that hallway at any moment, and he had gotten what he needed.

He broke the connection, pulling his hand away, smiling to himself as he watched the last few bolts of electricity travel between his fingers down to his hands before soaking into his system with the rest of the energy. 

He had an extra bounce of energy in his step when he walked into the interrogation room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The second time he was with Michael and Isobel at Sanders' Auto. While Max was dead, Isobel in particular had been working to push the limits of her powers. Now that Max was back among the living, she was going to show Max what she had accomplished. He wanted to understand how much of what Noah said to him was truth, and how much were lies.

Isobel's progress was impressive. She exploded a few piles of junk with her mind, and then used her powers to collect the debris and return it back to its original stack. After she was done,  Isobel encouraged Max to try as well, but no matter how hard he focused his energy, nothing shifted even an inch.

"It could be related to the differences between how you use your powers, and how we do," Michael theorized.

"What do you mean," Max asked, narrowing his eyes at his brother as he considered the statement.

"Well, both Isobel and I are used to using our powers across distances. Your powers usually involve touch."

Max nodded and looked around the junk yard, his eyes falling on the street lights around the perimeter of the lot. 

"Maybe I just need a little boost…" Max considered out loud, as he slowly started to walk towards it. "Just to help push me forward."

"What do you mean?" Isobel asked, her voice concerned, but Max didn't reply. He was like a man possessed, his attention focused solely on the nearby light pole, and the incredible energy he could unlock from within it.

"Max!" Michael shouted in a last attempt to distract him, but Max ignored him as well. Instead, he pressed his hand to the metal surface of the pole, closed his eyes, and focused on tracing the light’s wiring into the electrical grid until he reached live energy, and then he began to pull. 

The metal pole transformed into an enormous conductor, electricity channeling from the power grid, through the metal, and into Max. He groaned, as the energy surged through his nerve endings, into his brain, his heart, his lungs. His groan shifted into a moan, as a shockwave seemed to activate the pleasure points in his brain. He felt incredible. Like he could do anything. He laughed out loud at the thought of it.

But his laugh was cut short, as his body suddenly flew to the side, thrown from the pole and disconnected from the grid all in one swift motion. He groaned and looked up to see Michael standing over him, offering him a hand up.

"Sorry about that, man, but you scared us a bit with that move. You can't just do that...channel all of that electricity. At least not until we know what it's doing to you."

Max took the hand up, but still glared at Michael. "Why not? It's no different than you exploding things. Channeling electromagnetic energy is my thing."

"Exploding things doesn't make me erratic the way that energy does to you." Michael told him firmly. "Or have you already forgotten.?" Michael held up his formerly scarred hand and raised his eyebrows. Max just sighed and shook his head 

"Well it's already done, so let's see if it worked." Max insisted. He turned his focus to a rusty old bumper leaning up against a debris pile, and focused his energy on it. Trying to compartmentalize, he focused on sensing the difference between the electricity inside of him, fueling his body and his powers, and the energy exuding from him when he uses his powers. And then, once he felt the familiar force that he normally channeled to heal, he pushed it at the bumper as hard as he could. 

The bumper flew halfway across the junk yard.

"Holy shit." Michael gaped.

Max narrowed his eyes, focusing on the bumper. Using that same focused energy, he tried to lift instead of push this time, slowly and cautiously. The bumper drifted up into the air. A gentle pull and it carefully traveled back across the yard until it reached its original location. Then Max gently lay it down.

He and his siblings met near the bumper and all looked at one another silently for a long moment, trying to process what had happened.

"Was it just more power?" Isobel finally asked. "Were you just not strong enough before?"

"No, it was more than that," Max mused thoughtfully. "It was like with the power boost it allowed be to sort the energy into different categories based on sense or feel, which allowed me to focus the right kind of energy on the bumper. I'll have to try again when my energy levels are back to normal...see if I can still sense those differences."

He was still feeling the electric buzz well into that evening, long after he returned home. Every once in a while, he would just pause, close his eyes, and bask in the feeling of lightning in his veins. It felt like strength and pleasure and possibility all mixed together. He felt amazing.

When Liz came home that night he could barely contain himself. He was so happy and he felt so good, and it was _LIZ_ and she was strong and beautiful and the smartest and sharpest person he knew, and she was just _everything_ he ever wanted and he wanted _HER_...right now, but not _JUST_ right now, he wanted her _forever_...and he wanted to try to say it to her, but what words could ever possibly be enough to express everything that be felt, so he didn't try at all…instead he just met her by the door, and as soon as she put her purse and keys down he pressed her up against the wall and kissed her, the kind of kiss that was like making love to her mouth, establishing with a kiss where his intentions lay and how desperately he wanted her, and she responded just as eagerly and that was all he needed and wanted so he picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist, and he carefully maneuvered them to the bedroom, and then together they disappeared into the sweetest oblivion.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The third time he was at home.

The third time there was no excuse for it.

The third time he did it because he craved it.

And the third time was when Liz caught him for the first time.

He wasn't working that day, but Liz was helping her dad at the Crashdown. He slept in, ate breakfast, took a shower, and then started to look around for ways to distract himself while he was all alone. He threw in a load of laundry, cleaned the bathroom, then grabbed a notebook and went outside, hoping that the fresh air might motivate some writing out of him. He sat by his firepit, and stared out into the desert for a while, reflecting, before uncapping his pen and trying to get some words down on the page.

His head wasn't in the game. Something just felt off. He was antsy, uncomfortable. His foot kept tapping against the earth, his body weight shifting back and forth, like he couldn't find the right spot to sit in. His hand kept flexing unconsciously, like it was trying to grab something invisible in front of him, but he didn't know what. 

Frustrated, he shoved the cap back onto the pen and stood up, pacing back and forth a few times before going back inside and throwing his notebook onto his desk. He leaned on the desk, irritated with himself for his unusually jittery behavior. He didn't quite know what to make of it. 

He went back outside, wandering the perimeter of his house, trying to remember if there was any deferred maintenance he needed to do. If he had an excess of energy, he may as well put it to work, after all.

On the side of the house, he froze, his eyes focusing in on the power gauge. One look at it and he unquestionably knew what his body wanted. It was antsy because it was craving the rush that came along with the power surge. Twice in 10 days he had experienced that rush, and it was unreal. Not only did it boost his alien abilities, and help his body recover from its weaknesses, but it made him feel invincible. 

He knew inherently that he shouldn't. There was no reason to. He didn't need the power. Plus, it was dangerous to keep pulling from the city's power grid like this. Municipal utilities are monitored. Unusual patterns or sudden surges like the ones he was causing would eventually be noticed and investigated.

But knowing that was one thing. It didn't mean he could fight the hunger.

He tried to distract himself for a while, forced himself to walk away, but soon he found himself back outside, staring at that box on the side of the house.

_ No one needs to know. _ He told himself.  _ Just a little taste of it will help. _

So he finally gave in.

Hands on the metal surface, he quickly tapped into the power grid and began to pull, to absorb. His whole body shivered as its desires were fulfilled and he just leaned there against the wall, eyes closed, as the crackling electricity filled him.

He thought it had only been a minute, maybe two, when suddenly Liz's sharp voice broke into the fog of his pleasure. His eyes flew open and he pulled his hand from the power box, but it was too little, too late. Liz was standing in front of him, still in her full Crashdown uniform, antenna and all, staring at him with a look of shock on her face.

"What in the hell were you doing?" She asked.

"It's no big deal, Liz. Seriously. Everything's okay."

"Bullshit everything's okay," Liz argued. "Were you seriously just tapping into the electrical grid, Max?"

"So what if I was?" He shot back, his voice defensive. 

"Well...what for?" Liz asked. "Is there something going on that you're not telling me that you need the extra power for? You promised no more secrets, Max."

"Nothing is going on." Max admitted. "I just...it feels good, Liz. All that extra energy flowing through me… I don't think you can understand how incredible it is. I've never felt quite so confident and worthy as I do when I have that power inside of me. It's like… I feel like I can do anything, work miracles, give you the universe. I love it."

"No.” Liz shook her head, rejecting his argument. “Enough! I’ve heard enough! That's not you, Max. That's the power masking your intuitions. You have to be able to listen when your body tells you to stop, otherwise you'll end up dead. Again. You're not God, Max."

He nodded, considering her words. In a sense she was right. He did die. But that death had more to do with the havoc Noah had wreaked on his body than the power. He had channeled an entire monsoon that night and lived through it. The power wasn't what killed him. 

Plus, they had yet to prove any of Noah's words from that night to be a lie yet, which was weighing on him. Because of course, there was that one bit that he had been trying to avoid discussing with anyone. The part where Noah did imply that he was so much more powerful than they had ever imagined. He took a deep breath, and released it, letting the concept out there for the consideration of the person he loved and trusted most in the world.

"The thing is, though...what if I am?"

Liz's eyes widened. "WHAT?"

"That night, before he died, Noah told me that I'm meant to be a god." 

The words sounded ridiculous even to his own ears, but that extra surge of power was rushing through his synapses, and he felt the lightning in his bloodstream, boosting extra life throughout his body, and he felt so strong, so invincible, that in that moment, he could almost believe that it was true.

"Since when did you start believing what Noah had to say?" Liz asked, her voice dripping with sadness.

"Since when did you stop trusting me?" Max shot back. "Please, Liz… I'm not looking to die again. I promise. I'm being careful, I won't take on more than I can handle."

He took a step towards her, reached out, and gently cupped her cheek. "I love you, Liz. I'm not going to leave you. Please trust in me."

She nodded her agreement, but her eyes were still full of fear. Fear that hopefully he'd be able to assuage with time. 

But there was one thing that left him feeling uncertain.

He felt Liz shiver when he touched her.

  
  



	29. Chapter 29

It was about a week after they put Isobel in the pod that Max stopped by the hospital to check out Liz's progress working on the cure. It felt awkward to be there, as he walked through the hallways towards the research wing. He hadn't seen her at all that week, not since she told him that they weren't meant to be together. 

Since that night, it felt like his heart was constantly aching.

Yes, it broke his heart that Liz didn't believe in the possibility of them ever having a relationship. But it wasn’t a surprise. Liz just reinforced everything he always believed...that he could never have what he wanted. That he could never be good enough for her.

So instead he tried to focus on his other heartbreak. That one was harder to ignore because he could feel the emptiness inside of him every second of every minute of every day that Isobel was in the pod. He missed his sister. His entire world felt out of sync with her in stasis.

He was disappointed when he popped his head into her lab to find it empty. The lights were still on, as if she had been working but had recently stepped out to a meeting or lunch or something. Max sighed. It was probably better this way anyway. No distractions for Liz, nor any chance of his heart breaking any further. 

He found a piece of scrap paper and a pen on her desk, and sat down to write her a short thank you note.

_ Liz, _

_ Stopped by to say hello. I'm sorry to miss you. _

_ Just wanted to say thank you for everything. I don't know why you're helping us like this. I know we don't deserve it and I know saving Isobel after everything she's done is the last thing you want to do.  _

_ I guess I just wanted you to know that I see how hard you're working, and I am amazed by you. _

_ See you soon. _

_ Love, _

_ Max _

Satisfied with his short note, Max folded it in half, wrote Liz's name on the back, and left it on her desk. Then he headed back to his Jeep. He had a stack of books and a second blanket in the back seat. The nights were getting colder, but he wasn't quite ready to leave Isobel alone yet.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was late that evening, long after the sun had set, that Liz sat in her car with Max’s note in her hand. She kept unfolding it, rereading it, and folding it back up again, as she argued with herself over how to respond.

One part of her wanted to ignore it. Go home to spend time with Papi, or go to the Wild Pony, and have a drink with Maria. She wanted to talk to either of them, or both of them, about Max and Isobel and this whole mess...but she couldn’t. Not without revealing too much about their secrets. The only person she could talk to about this stuff was Kyle. She unfolded the note and read it again, sighing. But the note...she couldn’t talk about the note with Kyle. Talking about Max and  _ feelings _ with Kyle just felt too weird. She couldn’t do it.

The other part of her wanted to go check on Max. He must have had a reason for coming by the lab. It couldn't have just been to say thank you. Maybe she should drop by his house, check on him, make sure he was doing okay. After all, from everything Michael had told her about Max and Isobel and their alien connection, he must be really hurting right now.

A painful ache squeezed through her gut at the thought of Max and the pain that she had inadvertently caused him. Making up her mind, she set the note down on the passenger seat, turned on the engine, and drove out to Max's house on the edge of town. 

She was still easily a quarter mile down the dirt road from the house when it became clear that he wasn't there. The house was dark, not a single light, candle, or fire lit inside. Max's jeep was gone too.

She glanced at the clock. It was late. Much too late for her to just be leaving work, and too late for him to not be home. She wondered where he was...he hadn't been cleared to go back to work yet since getting shot by Wyatt Long.

_ Getting shot for her… _

More guilt filled Liz's heart as she reminded herself why Max couldn’t work right now. Max had saved her life multiple times, so what did she do in return? She created a substance that was currently killing his sister. What a hero.

She glanced down at his note on the passenger seat, and decided that the least she could do was respond. So she popped her trunk and got out of the car to access the bag she had stashed back there. There was a notebook and pen in it that she kept on hand for lab notes, or to jot down ideas. She snagged them and returned to her driver's seat since it was too cold to sit outside. She took a deep breath and started writing.

_ Max, _

_ I'm sorry I missed you today - twice now! Both at the lab earlier, and now here at home. I was hoping to check on you. I've been worried. _

_ Your note made me smile today. But it also gave me a lot to think about. I'm not sure you fully understand my perspective on this whole situation, Max. Yes, I feel obligated to help Isobel since it is my creation that's killing her, but that's not what motivates me when I'm in the lab until 9pm on a Wednesday night. _

_ I’m doing this for you, Max.  _

_ I'm doing this for the 17 year old kid who wanted to tell me the truth about my sister so badly that his family intervened and influenced me into leaving town. _

_ I'm doing this because the idea that you might be walking around feeling empty inside without your connection to Isobel because of something I did is so heartbreaking that it makes me physically nauseous. Yes, in my immediate rage after learning the truth, I wanted to have a weapon to protect myself if an alien ever tried to kill me, but I never imagined that the alien I'd hurt would be you. _

_ You've saved my life, Max. More than once. In a number of different ways, some of which I don't think I'm even capable of putting into words. So please, don't try to tell me that you don't deserve this. You deserve so much better than this. _

_ Please take care of yourself, Max.  _

_ Love,  _

_ Liz _

Liz ripped the page out of her notebook and folded the letter in half. Stepping out into the cold night, she jogged up to his front porch, and just slid the paper so that it was partially under his front mat. Convinced that it was visible enough that he would see it, she nodded, pleased with her work. She jogged back to her car, got in, and drove back into town. Maybe it was a good night to stop for a drink with Maria after all.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Max didn't try to visit her again at the hospital. He spent most of his time at the cave with Isobel. Occasionally Michael would stop by with the latest update from Liz, and that was sufficient. At least that was what Max tried to tell himself.

Two weeks after their letter exchange, Max was called into the station and reevaluated for his return to service. This time, he kept his cool, and the investigator had no reason to question whether or not he was fit for the job. 

Suddenly, the combination of regular shifts and keeping an eye on Isobel was all consuming. Another couple of weeks passed, and before he even realized it, it had been six weeks since Isobel injected herself with Liz's serum.

When he decided to lure Michael into driving him to Texas for an impromptu alien investigation, the last thing he expected was to see Liz there. They stood there in the parking area, about 15 feet apart, just soaking in the sight of each other. There was something different that Max couldn't quite put his finger on. He suddenly felt shy around her, like he did back in high school. She seemed to have forgotten how to talk to him. The tension was like electricity in the air.

So maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise to him when she kissed him the next morning.

Maybe. But it was.

  
  



	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set in the middle of episode 1x08...between Liz running off after Max asking her if she can make the cure, and Michael finding her channeling her inner Rosa. The Pod Squad chats at the hospital.

Liz rushed from the hospital room, leaving Max, Michael, and Isobel alone. Max was still sweating, his stomach heaving, as he tried to recover from his failed attempts to heal his sister. Isobel lay in the bed, occasionally coughing, but generally just raggedly breathing. Of the three of them, only Michael seemed coherent enough to be able to manage the situation. 

"Michael…" Max gasped out at him. "Go run interference with Noah. See if you can keep him out of here for a little while until…"

Michael nodded cursely and left the room. Once he was gone, Max staggered his way back across the room to the chair at Isobel's bedside. He slid a hand over hers, trying to comfort her as best he could. 

"Max," Isobel gasped out. Her voice sounded pained.

"Shh." He replied. "You don't need to talk. Get some rest while you can."

"But I just...Max, why did you tell Liz the truth. About Rosa." Isobel coughed weakly. "What if she had reported me to the police, or the government or something. We could all be locked up right now."

Max sighed. "She deserved the truth." He told her. "And anyway, I didn't tell her, really. She figured it out for herself."

"But you wanted to." Isobel pointed out to him, and Max could only nod. "Yeah. Then and now."

Michael suddenly swept back into the room, a bundle of energy compared to Max and Isobel. 

"I convinced Noah to go home and get some stuff to make Isobel more comfortable. It'll maybe buy us an hour. At most."

"Thanks," Max said with a nod.

Michael pulled up a chair next to Max and joined them. 

"So what's it like? Being sick?" 

Max raised his head and glared at Michael. 

"I don't think hearing about it is gonna help anything." Max interjected.

"No, it's fine." Isobel told him. "I don't mind talking about it."

Isobel paused and took a few slow breaths, before continuing. "It's like...I'm exhausted and weak, like everything is hard. Not just, like, doing things. Talking and breathing and just...existing... it's all hard." She had to stop and breathe for a moment, before continuing. "And everything hurts. And it feels like there's something stuck in my throat trying to claw its way out, but no matter how much blood I cough up there's always more."

Max could barely listen. He stood up and paced away from the bed, trying to take a moment to process. It hurt to hear her describe it, and it made him angry, and frustrated. He felt helpless and weak since he was unable to do anything to save his sister. And a part of him felt guilty too, since he was the one who told Liz to keep the serum. He never imagined that Isobel would pull a stunt like this.

"Max, come sit down," Isobel pleaded. As mad as he was at her, he couldn't deny her anything while she was so unwell, so he did as she asked.

"So I want to know something," Isobel said weakly to him. "Why  _ did  _ you save Liz, Max? What is it about her?"

Max ran a hand through his hair awkwardly, and glanced at each of his siblings. He wasn't used to talking about Liz with them. _Especially _with Isobel. It felt odd to even consider it. At least back in high school he and Michael used to talk about girls, a little. Isobel never really understood how deep his feelings for Liz ran, so he usually just kept them hidden from her. He tried to consider how to explain in a way that she might understand.

"So you know how we always say that we three are stuck here alone together? And then when Isobel got married, that kind of changed things for you because now it was the three of us,  _ and _ Noah?" Michael and Isobel both nodded. "Well, the truth is that I've always been lying when I say that it's just the three of us, because it's never been that way for me. It's always been the three of us and Liz."

"Always?" Isobel asked softly.

"Always." Max confirmed. "I've loved her since the first time I laid eyes on her. We were eight years old. I don't think I even understood love at that age. But she's always been the only one. Honestly, I don’t think I'm even capable of falling in love with anyone else."

"So when we sent her away after high school…" Isobel started.

"...it broke my heart." Max admitted. His statement hung out in the air for a long moment as Michael and Isobel considered what he said. It was Michael who broke the silence first.

"We're not gonna apologize for sending her away, Max. You were a mess even before she left. Isobel and I were protecting all three of our lives, and I was particularly thinking about keeping Isobel safe and out of jail. I still think it was the right thing to do."

"I'm sorry it hurt you so much." Isobel interjected softly. "I could see it at the time and I knew it was because of me. I wish there had been another way."

"Look, just do me a favor and stay out of it this time?" Max requested. "I don't know what's going to happen here. Liz knows everything now, and yes, she told Kyle the truth, but having him as a resource is already helpful. Liz didn't turn Isobel in and she's off in her lab right now trying to create a cure for Isobel even though she knows the truth about Rosa. She's…" Max just shook his head, unable to finish the thought because he couldn't quite put into words how amazed he was by her actions. 

"Like I said, I don't know where this is going to go, but I'd like a chance to let it okay out. Maybe it'll go somewhere. Or maybe she'll just stay a close friend that I feel a little too much for. Hell, she could leave town again and it'll all be for nothing. But just don't intervene again. Please."

Michael suddenly stood up, pushing his chair back to the wall. "Speaking of Liz, I think I'll go check on her progress. You guys good?" Michael asked. Max and Isobel both nodded, so Michael took off, leaving them alone once again. 

"Max, if I survive this I promise I won't mess with Liz again." Isobel swore weakly. She coughed, blotting at her mouth with the tissue in her hand. "I’m with you. You know that, Max."

"Yeah," Max agreed, smiling softly at his sister. "I know, Iz."


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks y’all for all of your support this month! I’m not gonna lie... when I started this 31 days ago, I honestly didn’t think I’d succeed. It was a lot of fun and a huge accomplishment for me!
> 
> Keep your eyes out for increasing updates on Haunted by the Ghost of You...and I’m also going to be starting work on another fic focusing on the 10 years between high school and the shooting.
> 
> If you’re willing, I am probably going to throw a few questions up on a Tumblr on the 1st or 2nd as kind of a close out poll from this whole Fictober experience. I’d love to hear your responses. So look for that in the next day or two here:   
https://www.tumblr.com/blog/angsty-nerd
> 
> And now for the finale... since it’s Halloween I figure we could do with a little haunting... also gives me a little something for RIPRoswell 😁

Isobel hated that she still thought about him sometimes.

She didn't want to. She definitely didn't want  _ him _ . But he had spent so many years twisting his way into her subconscious, into her life, into her heart that no matter how much she hated him now, she couldn't quite fully forget him.

It made her want to scream and throw things. 

It made her want to blow shit up.

She tried to expel her rage through self defense classes, by trying to grow strong. She tried learning new alien abilities to feel powerful. 

But he was still there, tickling in the back of her mind, telling her that she was weak, gullible, that she would always be his plaything.

She clears their home out, removing everything that reminds her of him. It was all fake anyway. The Noah who lived as her husband was the lie, which should make him easier to erase. 

The monster who killed Rosa was the real Noah. He belonged in that cave out in the desert. He deserved the cold, damp darkness. He should have been trapped underground with the corpse of his own making. He deserved to be buried. That monster never lived with her in her home and he never would.

Spring was coming and as the weather warmed it reminded her of her husband...of picnics in the town square, of their huge wedding in the big church with the whole town in attendance. Spring had too many memories. Spring meant that it was time to exorcise him from her life for good.

She made her way to the monster’s cave for the first time in months. She hated everything about that place. Not only was it the monster's home, it was a symbol of her husband's lies. Not to mention it was the place where her brother had died. 

She would be lying if she didn't admit that she hated that last bit the most about the cave. It had taken her brother away from her. She wanted it to burn.

It hadn't really changed in the months since Max had died. Rosa's weird shrine still dominated the walls of the cave, and the sad, broken pod was still the largest object in the room. Anything alien, or anything they thought might be useful was collected and taken away with them on the day that Max died.

Isobel looked at the ground and her memory flashed back to that day, to running into the cave...the sight of Max lying dead on the ground, Liz with her face buried in his chest as she sobbed, agonized. Rosa in the corner, a blanket wrapped around her tiny frame, so confused about what was going on.

_ He _ caused all of this.

As the anger surged inside of her, she felt her power building alongside it, and this was it. It was time to bury him.

She shot her hand forward and narrowed her eyes, focusing all of her energy onto the monster's pod. With a mental thrust she shoved her destructive power at it, and the pod exploded, bits of its flesh-like membrane flying in every direction.

Isobel laughed, shouting at the air around hed. "Scared? Me? Ha! I'm not afraid of you anymore!"

She threw her power at the candles surrounding pictures of Rosa, satisfied to watch them fly through the air, smashing against the jagged edges of the rocks.

The rocks themselves now drew her attention. They had no business existing in this horrible place either, so she blew them up too. Rock flew in every direction, and she felt stinging pain, as the debris scratched her face, her arms, her neck, even her clothes. She tasted blood, as a scratch above her lip dripped towards her mouth.

Her breath heaved from the effort of all of the destruction that she wreaked on this place that the monster had considered sacred. She smiled, as she surveyed her damage. 

"You see!" She shouted into the air. "See what I can do to you!! You don't own me anymore! I'm free, and I'm powerful, and I don't need  _ you!" _

Her voice cracked on the last word and she fell to the ground, still breathing heavily. Her eyes stung, but she bit back the tears. He didn't deserve them. 

She placed her palm flat on the earth, in the dust, on the spot where Max had died. A sharp pain cut through her again as the image of her dead brother's body flashed through her mind once more. 

Isobel gathered a handful of dust in in her fist. She raised it up to eye level and then slowly allowed it to slide free, between her fingers, raining back down to the earth. She gasped, as the falling dust started swirling in a beautiful pattern, not dissimilar to a tiny, gentle tornado. 

There was no wind in the cave. The air was still.

When her hand was empty, she tried reaching out with her mind, hoping to sense another presence in the cave with her. For a moment she thought she felt a whisper...but no, there was nothing there. Unsure what else to do, she scattered another fistful of dust. Again, it moved into a windless pattern.

Isobel placed her hand back down on the earth and reached out with her mind, trying to sense who or what might be there with her. There was no response, other than a tiny shockwave that extended from her hand...but not from her power. 

"Hello?" She whispered into the air.

There was only silence in response.

Somehow though, Isobel knew that it couldn't be Noah. Whatever was out there seemed like it was just trying to catch her attention...maybe tell her that she wasn't alone even though she felt that way. There was a comfort to the presence.

Really, she realized, it reminded her of…

"Max?" She whispered aloud.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael laughed as he tasted blood, his split lip already beginning to ache. He didn't give a damn though. Pain was good. Pain reminded him of who he was. Pain helped him remember that he was still alive even if- 

No. None of that.

Staggering back into the Pony, his eye bruised, knuckles bloody, and that damn lip, which was gonna hurt like hell on his next drink...but he suddenly found himself face to face with a very annoyed Maria.

"All taken care of, DeLuca. The racist son of a bitch won't be coming in here and saying that kind of garbage to you anymore."

"That racist son of a bitch was a paying customer, Guerin. Unlike you. I actually need to keep a few of those around, you know...so that I don't lose the roof over my head?"

"I was defending your…"

"...honor, I know. But I can handle it, Guerin. I'm not a damsel in distress that needs saving. Now get out of my bar. Your face is pissing me off tonight."

"Fine," Michael grumbled as he made his was back to the door. He turned back right before walking out and was pleased to see no one looking. With a wave of his hand, a bottle of whiskey glided away from the bar, and over to him. He grabbed it with a smirk and headed for his truck.

It was too early to go home. He didn't want to think, which meant no Liz or Alex or Kyle… sighing, Michael could only think of one place to go, so he turned his truck towards the desert and headed to the pod cave. 

It was cold and dark out there by the old turquoise mines, but Michael didn't mind the cold. Cold was just another form of pain after all. And pain was life. 

He walked haphazardly into the pod cave, feeling his way through the darkness along the rocky walls, until finally it opened up into the large cavern dimly lit by the glowing pods. 

He stopped in the entrance, pulled the cork from the bottle and took a long slug of whiskey to numb the impending angst that he knew would come when he let his eyes rest on…

Yup. There was Max. Floating naked in his pod, his dark hair flowing in the liquid of the stasis fluid. He looked almost comfortable, like he was asleep. Of course, it was all deception. Max hadn't moved in months. His heart wasn't beating, he wasn't breathing. He was gone. What was floating in the pod was just an empty shell.

Michael took another long drink from the bottle and closed his eyes as the whiskey burned it's way down his pipes into his stomach. He looked down at the bottle in his hand and poured one out for Max at the foot of his pod.

"One for me, one for you, man." He took another gulp. "Okay make that two for me."

He staggered back and forth in front of the pod, trying to clear his head. Maybe coming here wasn't the best idea. Being here, seeing Max...now he was just drunk and angry and he couldn't leave.

"You know, Max, I am so fucking pissed at you for leaving Isobel and I here alone. It was supposed to be the three of us. And then you and Iz both forgot that. She married that piece of shit, and you brought Liz in, who brought Valenti in, and now here we are. You're dead. And we have a herd of humans instead. But none of them are… family. Fuck."

Michael took another long drink. "Congrats, Max." He saluted the pod with the bottle. "You finally got me to admit that we're family."

He could feel his pace getting more and more unsteady, hear his words slurring as the whiskey went straight to his head. 

He took a turn a little too quickly and lost his balance, falling to the ground. He laughed hysterically, lying back in the dust and staring up into the inky darkness of the rocks above. 

Rolling his head a bit to the side, he could see Max in his pod a few feet away. He just lay there, staring at Max, his vision growing blurry as he found himself drifting closer to oblivion.

Through his lessening senses, for a moment he thought he saw Max looking at him from the pod. He blinked, trying to clear his head, but it didn't help. 

There were footprints in the dust... were they his footprints? Or Max's? 

He closed his eyes, trying to stop his head from spinning. It didn't help. The world was on a tilt-a-whirl, and Max was crouched beside him, a worried look on his face. 

Before he passed out, Michael could swear he heard his brother say, "Get it together, Michael. They all need you."

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was nearly midnight when Liz returned home from the lab. Rosa was already in bed for the night, so Liz sneaked into the house quietly, trying not to wake her, as she made her way straight back to Max's bedroom.

It was cold in his room. When he was alive it seemed like there was always a fire lit, warming every room of the house. With Liz working all hours day and night, she never had time to make the house comfortable, especially on a long day like this one. So instead she decided to just bundle up for warmth.

She pulled on a pair of her own sweatpants, and then dug into Max's closet until she found his red hoodie. She slipped the sweatshirt on, zipping it up. It was much too large for her, but it was warm, and it smelled like him.

Suddenly overwhelmed by the sensation of being surrounded by the memory of him, Liz crawled into his bed, pulling the covers up around her neck, and turning her face into the pillow. 

The weight of the blankets felt warm, protective...they replicated feelings that would overwhelm her when Max would hold her. The smell of him on the hoodie, on the blanket, his pillow...she felt surrounded by him…

But inherently she knew that she was surrounded by the memory of him. She was still alone. And he was still dead.

One by one, tears began to slip from her eyes, flowing down her cheeks, and dripping onto the pillow surface, until there was a damp spot beneath her face.

It had been so long without him. She had been working so hard to try to bring him back, and nothing was panning out. It was soul crushing. She was beginning to fear that she might never succeed. And all she wanted in the world was to feel Max's arms around her.

Goosebumps suddenly rose up on her arm, and she shivered at the sensation. The light tingling sensation moved from her arm, down her hand to her fingertips. She felt it travel along her jawline, trace the shape of her lips. 

"Max…" she breathed out softly. 

She longed to hear his voice answer, but there was no sound. Just the lightest whisper of a breeze in the air.

She sat up, searching the room for some visible sign that the sensations she was experiencing were real, weren't just a figment big her imagination. There was nothing.

Suddenly, that strange tingling sensation returned, like an invisible hand pressed over her heart, right on the spot where Max had healed her, where he had connected with her. She slipped a hand inside the hoodie and placed it over that same spot, and it felt like she captured whatever was there between her hand and her chest. 

"It is you, isn't it?" She murmured to the empty room. "Don't worry, I'm not giving up. I'm going to keep fighting to give you your life back. I'm going to keep fighting for us."

~*~*~*~*~*~

He watched her sleep in the darkness, trying not to focus too much on her tear-streaked cheeks. Watching her mourn, watching her suffer, watching her work herself to death...it was all agonizing for him. 

Her pain, Michael falling apart, Isobel's rage...he watched them all and longed to help them. They rarely sensed his presence, but it seemed like once in a while, when things were particularly intense, he managed to get through.

He hoped those moments helped more than they hurt.

But Max believed that Liz would succeed in bringing him back. Why else would he be here, in this state of limbo, unable to move on from the living world?

His soul was waiting to return home to them.

All he needed was for Liz to mark the path for him.


End file.
